Seven is Swell: Hemlock Academy Book 7, page 16
There’s just a good vibe from her though that relaxes me. It’s probably the way her magic works; she has the ability to sort of tease problems out of people and help them relax about them, and it’s very cathartic.
We stay way longer than I thought we would, because her couch is comfy and her mates and her are calming to be around, but by the time we’ve gone through so many random subjects about both our lives, I’m determined to get something about my future settled.
I know the note that was placed in my locker by my apparent demon fiancé had all the steps outlined to help free Leo, and I’ve been so scared about the ramifications of that, but when Violet and I hug goodbye with promises to hang out again soon, I walk down to my room again with a sense of determination rising in me to get him the hell off that awful concrete perch and out of the elements and bring him inside so I can hold him and fall asleep in his arms.
Everyone is watching a movie when I walk through the door and I of course take the time to say hi to everyone, surprised to see that Zac is still around while I try not to find it weird that I made out with my headmaster yesterday.
But then I’m bringing the demon’s note out and taking the time to really read through the steps so I can start preparing. I don’t even know if it can be done in one night or if it’s the sort of situation where I have to make some crazy brewed potion that needs to sit under the moonlight for a specific amount of time, but I am so optimistic right now. Maybe desperate.
“What are you up to?”
I blink up at Cory who’s leaning over me, reading through the note as well, their lips tilt up in a smile and they lean forward to kiss me nice and sweetly, and I feel the emotion rising high in me to have all my mates with me.
“I swear, once he’s free I’m fucking dragging him around everywhere I go. He’s going to have to take over guarding me for one of the twins because the bond between us is really hungry and itchy.”
August takes a seat next to me at our huge dining table, eyes roaming over the note. “You think you’re ready?”
“If I’m not ready right now, it’s never going to happen.”
“Did something happen at Violet’s? I know you wanted to do this, but you seem...off.”
“It was a bit of a therapy session,” Jackson explains to his brother. “If she needs this though, let’s help her. What’s the first thing we need to break the curse?”
“Mashed potatoes. Why the hell is it mashed potatoes? That makes literally no sense,” I complain.
“Yeah, I was wondering about that. Is that a joke?” Ash asks, getting involved.
“It says you have to possess something to tempt the cursed back into a regular life with something from their past they have hard memories tied to. The demon has scribbled in the margins that this needs to be mashed potatoes...and that a collection of anal plugs wouldn’t be remiss? Who the hell is this guy?”
“I think the better question is what the hell are we supposed to do with those two items and why does the demon know your gargoyle needs these things?” Adam asks carefully.
I look around the room, hoping for inspiration to strike, but all of them are very much not meeting my eye. “I suppose that’s something to ask when we meet him. Ugh, fine. Do we even have potatoes?”
Cory gets up from their seat and walks calmly to the kitchen, pulling a few packages of something out of the cabinet. “I was at the store yesterday...”
“That’s such a fucking useful gift. Cory, come here, let me kiss you. I’m not even going to debate with you about how instant potatoes aren’t actually potatoes, because this is about to save me effort when I have none to spare.”
They saunter over to me, expectant expression on their face. “I will gladly take any and all forms of gratitude.”
“I’ll take those,” Jackson says as he grabs the potatoes out of Cory’s hands. He saunters to the kitchen and grabs a bowl and a pan and starts getting everything set up.
I’m not thrown off at all when Cory full-on straddles me, sitting in my lap with their arms around my shoulders, opening their mouth to me instantly. They go for gold, and I am happy to reciprocate.
They start to harden against me and it’s such a fucking turn on. I become starving for them, squeezing them to me and practically eating their face off in my attempt to taste every bit of them I can. They’re making these delicious mewling noises that are just so damn cute, and my lust stores are going haywire, soaking up everything pouring off of them and making me feel incredible.
“What else can I go buy to get that reaction from you? I’ll go do it right this second.”
I laugh, pulling a scant few inches away from their face, breathing in the same air they are. “You don’t have to do anything but be yourself, babe. It’s not just my bond with Leo that’s itchy, that one’s just the loudest at the moment.”
“Really?”
“When are you going to stop undervaluing yourself? Of course I want you.”
They lean their forehead against mine, twining their legs around me a bit tighter. “I needed to hear that. Thank you.”
I can feel satisfaction from my bond with Adam flooding through me, and I look up to see him much closer than he was a moment ago, squatting beside me and Cory with his elbow propped up on the table. “You two are so fucking pretty together.”
Ash clears his throat. “Before this turns into an orgy again, maybe we should read through the steps, so we know what to expect? That way everything is ready in a timely manner. I only briefly looked at that note; I’ve been researching other ways to use the goblin heart.”
“Yes, professor,” I say cheekily.
He smirks but tries not to. “You will absolutely not be calling me that when we’re in the comfort of our own home.”
That makes a ball of warmth detonate inside my chest. “Are you considering this your home, then?”
“Wherever you are is my home, Delaney,” he says simply.
“Okay, I’m getting off. Go kiss that man,” Cory says, grabbing the chair I empty.
I straddle Ash much in the same way Cory was just straddling me, that need to have all of my mates with me driving me hard. “Thank you, that means a lot to me.”
“I just want to make you happy, Delaney. Truly.”
“You’re doing a good job.”
“Then sit with me a moment? I want to feel you close to me.”
I spin around so my back is to his chest, lacing our fingers together to rest along my stomach as his other hand holds the note and his voice rumbles in my ear. “I read that desire is very important; this ritual is all about intent. If the cursed can sense how wanted they are it makes everything else much easier.” He reads on and I just close my eyes and listen, letting the deep rumble of his voice soothe me.
“So, we prepare the potatoes, and the one calling him must focus on the reasons they want them freed. Must be pure of intentions, because false intentions will only strengthen the curse.”
“Well, that’s terrifying.”
“You have nothing to worry about, love,” Ash says automatically. I jump a little because the endearment rolls of his tongue so easily. He tightens his hand on me, acknowledging it, and then moves on. “So, if you can reach the cursed, you’re to place a hand on them. If that isn’t possible, you need something that belongs to the cursed. Well, that’s easy enough.”
“Can I touch that gargoyle dick? Because I’ve got to tell you it’s fucking impressive. If my intentions towards that aren’t pure, then I’m a toad.”
“That good, huh?” August asks with a smirk.
I use my hands to show the size, then a shiver rolls through me at the memory.
“Doesn’t seem like it matters what exactly you touch, just something that’s a part of the cursed. So you’ll need to wear something that reflects your desire to be in the cursed’s life, something that will tempt them to you. Oh, that’s cute, completing this journey will irrevocably tie your souls together. Good thing you’re already mated and bonded, or that could be a deal breaker.”
“You see why we haven’t been able to help him?” Zac asks sheepishly. “Curses are hard to undo unless you know who cast them. In this case, I don’t think the caster is still alive. There’s something to be said that their descendent might be of use in the process, but their blood isn’t nearly as potent as the one that cursed them. At the risk of sounding cheesy, true love really is the best way for these things to be fixed.”
I accept this information and decide to take it at face value. Zac is a smart guy, he received a lot of education to be suitable for the headmaster position, so I’m going to accept that he simply knows more about this subject than I do. I’ve never had much interest in curses, so I don’t have the first clue where to start with them.
“What does that mean that I need to wear something that reflects my desire? Like lingerie? Would that tempt him out of a curse?”
“You in lingerie would tempt anyone to do literally anything,” Ash says offhandedly as he continues to read over the note. Ooh, that’s giving me a lot of power.
“Noted. So, when I want something out of you…”
He doubles back, seeming to realize the implications of what he said, but then must decide it’s too true and shrugs. “You need only ask."
“What’s next? How does she actually get him down from there?” Cory asks, moving us all along from our tangents.
“So you…set the offering near you and touch the cursed, and then you…no that can’t be right. Somebody else read this. I don’t think I’m interpreting this correctly. I don’t suppose this demon left a phone number we could reach him at? I think his instructions are faulty.”
“What does it say?” Adam reaches for the paper, and I’m wondering why I didn’t read the note more in-depth earlier because the way Adam starts smiling tells me either I’m going to love the next part or they’re going to love the next part. And I’ll probably love it as well anyway.
“The curse was borne out of jealousy, so to combat that, you need to prove that no jealousy exists in you.”
I blink at Adam, who’s holding the paper, while Ash continues to fidget against me. “What does that mean?”
Cory grabs the paper and starts giggling. “It means, my darling girl, that to undo the jealousy that created the curse, you must shatter it by sharing yourself with six people that aren’t jealous.”
“Six? Why six? That seems awfully convenient,” I say as I look around the room, noticing there are indeed exactly six people present.
“That’s the goddess’ number,” Cory says like I should know this. I mean, I guess I do, but…
“Share how?” Zac asks suspiciously.
“ORGY TIME!” Cory yells before throwing the paper on the table and doing a silly dance with their arms in the air.
“Yeah, further support as to why we didn’t break the curse earlier,” Zac says. “Maybe there are other ways to break a curse, or maybe this demon fellow is fucking with all of us and is secretly hiding in the trees with a blatant mashed potato fetish and this won’t do anything at all to help Leo and we’re just fodder for his sexual deviances, but I guess it’s up to you, Delaney, as to how we proceed.”
“First of all, I won’t ask anybody to do anything they aren’t ready for. Yes, Leo is important to me, but so are all of you. His salvation won’t come at the expense of any of your comfort. He’s been stone for this long, I’m sure he’ll understand us waiting if we need to.”
“Too late, already made the mashed potatoes.”
I blink up at Jackson as he plops a big bowl of whipped potatoes on the table.
Zac stands and yanks his shirt off, baring his chest which has a faint scale pattern sitting just under his skin, even in his human form, and it’s stunning. Blues and greens are suggestive as the light hits his skin, making the overall effect otherworldly. “I’m in,” he says as he undoes his belt and whips it out of his pants with one hand. Fuck that’s hot.
One by one, everyone starts pulling off their shirts and declaring they’re down to orgy, like some sort of fucked up vow that only my mates would say with emotion, until I’m severely overdressed and being herded into my closet for a change of my own.
I stare at the dresser, unseeing, contemplating what’s about to happen.
I know all these people are meant to be mine and the fact that the goddess picked them out for me is flattering as hell because they’re all so perfect in one way or another, and here I am with a dining room full of semi-nude men ready to fuck me for a higher purpose. Very altruistic of them.
I haven’t seen Leo in a few days and it’s probably a driving factor in me feeling needy to get him in my arms. There are a lot of factors, and it’s time to just fix them all.
I don’t want to wear anything super skimpy for this because that just doesn’t feel like me. Instead, I reach for a lacy pair of cheeky undies and one of my old sleepshirts I have that's been washed so many times it’s practically threadbare; it hangs off one of my shoulders and barely covers up my ass, leaving my legs on display.
I pull my hair down and use the mirror in the closet to make sure I look okay, then I pick up the jewelry box with the goblin heart because obviously that will be needed in one of the steps as well.
This is how I feel sexiest, so I walk out confident to a whole room of people that have no business looking at me the way they are.
Actually, I guess given the circumstances, they have all the business looking at me the way they are. “I figured we’d need this, too. What do I do with it?”
Chapter Eighteen
August
No one answers Delaney because I’m pretty sure we’re all a bit stunned.
She was supposed to pick out something to inspire desire, and she couldn’t have picked better. I’m glad she chose something relaxed and comfy instead of something flashy, because if she’s ready to start a true mating with Leo, one where he gets to participate in everyday life with the rest of us, then starting it as her authentic self is a pretty damn good way to go.
Delaney holds eye contact with all of us, appearing somehow…shy.
I don’t think she’s ever been the object of so many people at once before, so maybe that’s what’s throwing her off. I don’t get the vibe that she’s nervous about solidifying her bond with any of us, I think it’s more that this is just a big deal. If someone were to tell me they had to have sex with all of their mates in order to complete some epic quest, I’d think they were crazy. Everyone looks ready to pounce on her, so I don’t think there’s any room for her to feel as if we’re being coerced in any way.
“Over here,” I whisper as I lead her to the balcony. It isn't big enough to hold more than two or three people, so I guess there’s going to be a queue.
“This feels awkward,” she admits.
I run my fingers through her hair and sweep it over her shoulder, brushing kisses along the side of her neck to try and get her out of her head. “Just focus on me, baby. It’s just you and me. After it’s just you and me, it’ll be you and someone else. This is more of a run-a-train-on-the-princess than it is an orgy-to-save-the-gargoyle.” Either way, he better appreciate the hell out of this because this is quite the offering.
She spins to look at Leo on his perch, and I get the feeling she’s cataloguing everything about him because hopefully this will be the last time she has to see him in this state.
Ash follows us onto the balcony, having laid the note inside after making sure he knew all of the necessary steps well. “You ready?”
She bites her lip but nods, unable to pull her eyes away from Leo.
Ash places the potatoes in Leo’s line of sight for when he’s able to come back to us, but not too close to us so that we don’t inadvertently develop our own mashed potato fetish while we’re with our woman. I appreciate this forethought.
“You need to close your eyes and imagine everything you want to share with Leo; all your daydreams and hopes, ideas for the future, everyday moments…anything at all. And just picture the two of you in your mind, leaning into the bond you already share. Think about those early moments of meeting him and all the happy ones in between, and when you feel like you have a firm grasp on what you want out of this relationship, you’re going to press a heartfelt kiss to the goblin heart.” How did Ash just make kissing an old, dried-up organ sound sexy?
She looks repulsed. “I’m supposed to put my mouth on a shriveled up organ? That feels like something I’d very much not like to do.”
“There is no biological material left!” Cory reminds her from inside. Everyone is in the living room, having moved the furniture so they could relax while they wait their turn. Also, so they get prime views for the show that's about to kick off.
“This is for you, Leo, you high maintenance stone.” Delaney closes her eyes, and I keep my hands steady on her hips, leaning into her so she can feel my chest rising against her back. None of us make a sound, content to let her focus where she really needs to.
Eventually, she opens the box and lifts the goblin heart to her lips, pressing a kiss to it as Ash keeps talking.
“Good girl. Now you’re going to take that stone and you’re going to climb and you’re going to put it somewhere where it can rest against Leo’s skin on its own. Be careful not to fall.”
She only has to think for a heartbeat before she’s climbing onto the railing and using Leo’s massive stone wings to balance. His hands were frozen in a cupping motion over his heart, as if he anticipated this. She tucks the heart right into his hands and presses her forehead to his before kissing his stone lips and accepting help to get back onto the balcony.
“Now we start?” She asks.
“Now we start,” Ash says as he starts to back off of the balcony.
But she isn’t having that.
Delaney stops him and takes initiative, leaning her back against the railing and allowing one of her hands to rest on Leo’s foot behind her as her other hand wraps around Ash’s neck.
