Order of Scorpions

by Ivy Asher

Refusing to release the sigh that’s forming in my chest, I reach behind me and pluck the sheath from the crack of my ass.

refuse to draw in the deep pulls of Curio’s smoky masculine bouquet like my mind is begging me too. No. I won’t try to decipher if there are notes of charred cypress mixed with something light and crisp, some kind of sap maybe?

I’m licking the juices from my hands and wishing I had more. I eye the three Scorpions, weighing which would be the easiest to fight for their food.

She likes to be close to the kill, and Tarek is the same way, which means the best way I can help her stay safe is to make sure her blades are so sharp that one flick could separate a fae’s head from their shoulders.

I enjoy mastering my craft and kitting me and my brothers with the best, but there’s something significantly special in gifting Auset her armor and blades. It’s like I know a part of me will always be there to protect her, and it soothes and reassures me in ways I didn’t know I needed until I saw her outfitted in my best work like she was one of us already.

“You are not defenseless. You are not at their mercy. You are the dangerous one now. You are their reckoning.”

“If I die today, it will be the freest and happiest I’ve ever been in my life. What you and your brothers have given me is so much more than I ever dared to dream. I will take my last breath with no regrets in my heart, needing nothing more than what the three of you have already given me.”