Trickery (Curse of the Gods, #1)

by Jaymin Eve

He ate sardines for lunch. It’s never good to trust a person who eats sardines.”

I forced my face into sober lines. “No worries. I’ll keep all plans for mass execution to myself from now on.”

Just to make a complete little monster set.

So … Yeah. That’s how I ended up sucker-punching a sacred sol on my second sun-cycle of being one of the Luckiest Dwellers in the World.

Or maybe I could just trip on something and fall onto a nice, suicidal rock. Yeah. That’d be nice.

A throat cleared behind us, and Yael said distinctly, “There better be a reason you’re hugging them and not me. And you’d better start sharing it around.” Right, crazy competitive.

“No one ever hugs us for no reason.” His voice was a whispered caress across my body. Like the sweetest, most seductive breeze ever. “No one gives themselves without expecting something in return. You honoured us, little dirt-dweller.”

But here we were. Hugging. In Topia. Shit, maybe I was already dead, and this was hell.

And that was how I stabbed a God in Topia.

Holy dweller babies. Could I have his dweller-sol babies? Wait … no. Not what I meant. What I meant to say was put your damn shirt back on. All

“Which one of you sols is going to tell me what the freaking hell just happened right then?” Going on the attack felt natural.

Safe. My Abcurses were safe. I mean—someone else’s Abcurses. Their mother’s Abcurses.

“Rocks … my gift is trickery. I love surprises. Especially surprises that annoy people. Especially surprises that annoy my brothers. Especially surprises that spend half of their time naked. A naked surprise is always a good surprise.”

Not my guys. Just guys. Some random guys. Some random, weird, annoying guys.

“We’re not your friends,” he told me blatantly. “Your hand is on my leg,” I shot back, not even missing a beat. They were so my friends. On my other side, Siret snorted on a laugh.

“How the hell have you stayed alive this long?” he asked. I shrugged, trying to catch my breath. “No idea, it’s been a rough road.”

It was unfair to surprise-punch people. “Sorry I hit you. I thought you were going to keep talking, and I panicked.”

“Next time, just say like … sleep well, or something normal,” I said. “Not go to sleep, I’ll be murdering someone in no time. It doesn’t sound as comforting as you think it does.”

“I thank the gods every single sun-cycle that you tripped into our lives, Soldier.” His smile was so bright, like he was on the verge of laughing. “But you really need to get dressed now, otherwise Chaos might get his wish.” He stood and was almost out of the room when he turned back and said, “Move that perfect ass. You have one click or I’ll be back to dress you myself.”

“So … you’re actually gods. Like real gods. A hundred percent, special cupcake, god-gods.” Aros snorted. “Yes.”