Page 13 of Broken Souls

“Khalid will kill me if you use your magic.” He told me so. Very, very clearly on the first day I got here.I might be engaged to his brother, and Khalid might be his bodyguard whenever Varius is out, but Khalid is also the reaper. And I am absolutely terrified of him.

“Khalid will do no such thing. He –”

“No.” I shake my head. “Not risking it. I’m just going to add this in very, very slowly… It’ll just take an extra two, three seconds and –”

“Stop,” Sau demands, and I jerk my hand away from the pot, careful not to drop any more of the sideritis into it. My heart hammering, I wait for the thing to explode.

It does not.

Thank the fucking gods.

“Good. Now add your magic to it.”

“While thinking about happy, funny things,” I murmur. Magic feeds on emotions. Stress-free treatment is better for one’s recovery, and laughter is the best medicine. The brain releases an increase of endorphins, natural painkillers, and neuropeptides when you laugh, and all those things help with the healing process.

Ducking my head, trying to pretend Sau isn’t standing right beside me, I place a hand into the pot. As my magic pulses out of my fingers, I think about what Varius did the first time I got my period.

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Varius growls as I exit my ensuite, wrapped in a towel and fresh from my shower.

My brain glitches out at the sight of him naked on my bed, his cock hard and in his hand. He’s stroking it, and I can’t breathe. He’s fucked me for hours every night for the past few weeks. I should be able to see it without losing the ability to think by now. But dear fucking gods, it just does something to me, seeing it in his hand. Seeing him take the pleasure he wants.

I try to think of something sexy to say, but of course my mouth decides to go in the complete opposite direction.

“Because the monthly hillbilly has come to town,” I blurt, “and it’s murdering all the – actually, no, that doesn’t work, does it?” I laugh awkwardly and high-pitched. “Because it’s normally the bimbos goingintohis hometown in horror movies. So the monthly girls are getting slaughtered…” I cringe.Oh my gods, why isn’t he telling me to shut up?“My period,” I croak. “I’m on my period.”

He stares at me without blinking. His hand doesn't stop stroking his thick cock. “And what do hillbillies slaughtering bimbos,” Varius deadpans, “have to do with why you’re not riding my cock right now?”

I blow out a breath on a nervous giggle even as heat flares through me. “Okay, one, that sentence should never exist. You can’t start off with a horrible analogy for one’s period and then transition into something that hot. And two…um...it’s messy?”

He stands up, then walks towards me, herding me back into the ensuite. The intensity of his eyes never waver. “Get in the shower, Micha. I’m going to fuck that hillbilly right out of his own damn town.”

I giggle, both in my memory and now in the kitchen. The neon blue liquid starts to froth, churning back and forth as if it’s laughing too. But I didn’t laugh for long once he got me in the shower. I didn’t do much other than scream and –

“That’s good,” Sau says, and I blush hard. Yanking my head out of those ‘happy thoughts,’ I pull my hand out of the pot. My magic fades from my fingertips, and I grab the hand towel on the counter to dry my hand. Feeling slightly dizzy, the continuous use of magic starting to drain me, I make my way to the refrigerator and pour myself a cup of juice as she fills up the next set of vials with a pipette, then seals them with a cork. Making a single batch of potions doesn’t use much magic, barely any at all, but we’ve been at this for hours, and I have been fueling the bulk of our creations.

“This batch will go to the soldiers of the Family,” she says as I rejoin her. That’s a polite way of telling me I didn’t do that great of a job. The ones she made will stay here with her sons, those potions being stronger. Although I have been following her instructions to the letter, magic is often fickle.

“Think of funnier things,” she says as she finishes up. “Thoughts of sex might send out dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin, but laughter really is the best medicine.”

A strained noise escapes me as my face full on explodes in a blush. “Noted,” I squeak. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how open this family is when it comes to discussing sex.

“But other than that, you did a great job.”

“Thanks. These are much stronger than anything I have ever made.”

“They’re still not as good as a mediocre healer for most things.” Using a healing potion is like shopping for clothes at a department store when you’re a foot above average or between sizes. Yeah, you can find things that cover you, but the chances of an off-the-shelf dress hugging your specific curves just right or a long-sleeve shirt actually stopping at your wrists rather than half-way up your arms is pretty low. The magic is too generic. It doesn’t have the proper focus needed to fix bones and reseal wounds to the point that no other recovery is needed.

“Better than most human treatment though,” I say.

She inclines her head as she corks the last vial.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I dig it out to see a text from Varius. “He’s calling everyone back for a meeting at lunch,” I say. I glance at the clock in the kitchen. Twelve fifteen. He likes to eat at one. My eyes narrowing, I text back.

Micha:You couldn’t have given a better head’s up?

Cooking for eleven (the eight Shadow brothers, me, Sau, and Leno’s dog, who absolutely does not get dog food given Leno can taste everything he eats) takes fucking ages. At least at breakfast, only half of them ever show up. Maddox is rarely awake at that time. Rudy and Enoch like cereal. Ezriel only drinks coffee, and Talon usually isn’t here at all.

He doesn’t reply, and I roll my eyes as I shove my phone back into my pocket. “Lunch meeting,” I tell Sau.