Page 33 of A Taste of Bliss

“According toAmy, yes.”

Amelia swings her arm around my neck and pulls me down so I’m in a headlock. “Dericia, did you overhear the part where I convinced Bliss to be our band manager again?”

“I did!”

“Well, I’m now thinking maybe she can be ourbaldband manager,” she says wickedly. I canhearher grinning.

“You wouldn’t dare!” I shriek at her. “Where would I wear my ribbons?”

Dericia lets out a chuckle. “You can always use my new bedazzler to glue them to your tits.”

“It can do that?” Amelia asks, letting me go, eyes wide at the possibilities.

“Oh yes,” Dericia responds, grinning.

I point my finger at both my sisters. “You stay away from my hairandmy tits, got it?”

CHAPTER TEN

PISCES

“Areyou sure you know what you’re doing?” I ask Evan, eyeing him over the top edge of the book I’m flipping through. I came into the library seeking somewhere peaceful to try to write other than my room but found Evan in here, next to a pile of books on potions and earth magic. Neither of which he is particularly skilled at.

“I didn’t ask you to help, you know,” he mumbles as he skims a page of whatever he’s reading. He’s seated at a large table near the fire. The crackle of the flames and pages turning every few moments have been the only sounds for the last several minutes. “Why are you in here anyways?”

I toss the book I’d grabbed off the table to the ground, next to a few others I’ve already flipped through. None contained any mention of a temporary invisibility potion. I swing my legs up over the arm of the comfy loveseat I’m occupying and lean my head back on the other armrest, careful not to rest the back of my neck directly on it. I’ve gotten a few additions to my existing tattoo that spans from behind my right ear, across my neck, and wraps around to my left collarbone. Evan offered to heal it rightafter, but part of me wanted to feel human, even if just for a little bit.

“I have this chord progression I can’t get out of my head, but I can’t seem to find the words to go along with it. I thought a change of scenery would help.”

I hear Evan close a book and open another one. “I’d offer to listen to it and help out, but I know how you are.”

I huff out a laugh, closing my eyes. My bandmates know exactly how personal my writing process is. I never share anything with them until it’s time for Shaun to add the drums. Then we make tweaks from there. I’ve always been like that. When I write, I pour my heart onto the page, so I can’t just let someone hear the music before it’s complete.

“About earlier,” Evan starts to say, then trails off. I can feel his uncanny green eyes on me.

“Which part? Me attacking Austin, or the party?”

I open my eyes, meeting his gaze. He looks at me with concern, which is pretty rare for Evan. He’s not usually an emotional guy.

“I was maybe a bit harsh to you, about Austin,” he clarifies. “He attacked Benny and you reacted. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

I shrug, getting up and taking a seat next to him, pulling another book off the pile. “Don’t worry about it. I wish I could say I attacked him because he was hurting my friend, but honestly it was Benny’s blood that caused my siren to come out so fervently.”

Evan claps me on the shoulder. “He’s that tasty?”

I grin. “Oh definitely,” I respond, winking at Evan. He just shakes his head.

He glances sideways at me. “Do we need to talk about the party?”

My grin falls, and I replace it with a fixed smile. “Nah, we don’t need to go there.”

“I guess I’m probably not the person to talk to about it. I’ll never know what it’s like for you and Benny.”

I open the book in front of me, absently turning the pages, though I’m not really reading them. It’s hard knowing my friends will find soulmates and get to grow old with them, while my aging has already started to slow. I’ll look thirty for the rest of my years, but I’d trade that in a heartbeat for a mate. “I don’t even know if I can blame Born fae for being so prejudiced. The stars bless you all with mates, and now with what’s happening with the warlocks… I mean, I get it.”

“What’s going on with warlocks?” a familiar voice says from the doorway to the library. I jump out of my seat, striding forward and wrapping my cousin up in a huge hug. Simon squeezes me back and pokes his head around me to look at Evan. “You two getting overly gushy again?”

Evan huffs, ignoring Simon and going back to his reading.