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If I’m being honest with myself, I would love nothing more than to watch her make Lyell bleed… And Ecaeris. They’ve really gotten under my skin today.
But just a little blood. Nothing that Imy can’t heal.
Ada and Madigan are still in the Colosseum when we arrive. They’re sitting in the dirt, hands held shoulder-width apart as they summon their elements. Water clings to Ada’s skin like living armor as she peeks through one eye at Madi.
“What are you doing?” Ada inquires. “Stalling again?”
“Shut up, Ada,” the Shade snaps. “It’s not that easy. Fire is uncontrollable when I’m not focused.”
“Your mouth is uncontrollable, but that didn’t stop us from learning to deal with it,” Ada snarks, catching me by surprise.
I’ve never heard her talk like that to anyone other than Ecaeris. Most of the time, he deserves her attitude, though I don’t believe Madigan sits in the same boat as the Mongrel prince.
Madi scoffs. “That bullshit isn’t going to work on me again.”
“Clearly,” Ada drawls, mocking her friend. “We’re still sitting here. All you have to do is focus, Madi. Come on. Get it done.”
“You’re being a bitch today.”
Ada snorts. “Ecaeris called me a Shade for the first few weeks I was here. I’m still not convinced that it isn’t island slang for weak cunt.”
Madigan makes an aggravated noise and throws a handful of fire at Ada. Her water armor is quick to douse the flames, but the defense doesn’t stop my heart from plummeting into my stomach.
“You’ve got to stop instigating me,” Madi warns.
Ada scoffs, then smirks. “You were stalling. I knew you could do it. You’ve got to believe in yourself more.”
“Nicely done,” Talodus praises both women.
“What are you teaching them?” Lyell asks, anger heavy in his tone. “Parlor tricks won’t help them.”
Ada smiles sweetly at the Shade prince, and Ecaeris grimaces. I lean against the fence post to watch this argument unfold, because I’m smart enough to stay out of it when my goddess wears that expression. I’m surprised to see the Mongrel prince has picked this up…
Lyell, though? He doesn’t know what he’s walking into.
“Do parlor tricks offend you?” our next Mongrel queen asks curiously.
“Wasting Madigan’s time with your water sports offends me,” he growls.
Ada cuts her gaze to Talodus, and the guard hangs his head to cover his grin. I don’t understand why that’s so funny, but Madigan coughs to cover her giggle… So it must be an Earth thing that Ada has explained to Talodus. I scratch my jaw as I wrack my memories for an explanation.
“I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy our—” Ada snorts as she tries to hold back her laughter. “—our water sports performance. Next time, we’ll keep our lewd behavior behind closed doors.”
“Ada,” Tal admonishes, though there’s too much humor in his voice to show a drop of ire. “Stop it.”
“She’s just being kind,” Madi defends, feigning innocence. “If either of us had known Lyell wouldn’t fancy water sports, we wouldn’t have done it.”
The Shade prince tilts his head, anger evaporating at his lover’s tone. “Okay. What does that mean?”
“What?” Ada inquires as Madi replies, “Nothing.”
Lyell glares at Talodus. “You know what it means?”
The Mongrel guard nods. “Yeah, but I’m not sure you want to know. They’ve been working hard today, and while that might have looked like water—” he chokes, then growls at himself. “—water play to you, I can assure you it wasn’t. Not by their definition, anyway.”
“Later,” Ecaeris intervenes. “One of you can explain it later, perhaps over dinner?”
Both women burst into a fit of giggles, and I’m utterly confused. Ada is adorable when she’s this happy, but none of us know how to act because we have no idea what’s going on right now.
