She didn’t make a sound when she came in. And yet, Turbo knew the moment Squirt was in the chamber with them. She was still wearing Aquos’s shirt, a blanket tied around her waist like a sarong. She was a goddess. His eyes moved over her bruised and swollen face, and he felt his breath leave his lungs with a guilty rush. He did this. No matter if it was the beast or lovemaking, it was his body that caused this beautiful, fierce woman pain.
Fuck the conclave. He’d throw himself into the Tesseract.
Squirt tried to rush over to him, but Aquos grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Turbo’s eyes and Squirt’s were glued to each other as the girl’s sister and brother-in-law positioned her into place between the weather and water clan chairs. Then Mach came in. Turbo wouldn’t have caught it if he hadn’t been staring. His cousin. His best friend. Mach paled when he saw the state Squirt was in, and the look he turned on him was more searing than Squirt’s fever.
Crap. His cousin was in love with his girl.
Like he told himself already. Fuck the conclave. He’d throw himself into the Tesseract. He deserved worse.
Artemis Milchon 