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"What was that all about..?" Anna asked.

Malachi smiled in exhaustion as his head hit the block of glass he was resting against.

"Oh, you know… Just one of the perks of being in charge."

The girls smiled at him pitifully as they sat on either side of him.

"Another one of \'those\' requests, huh..?"

"Mhm." Clearly tired, Mal closed his own eyes to rest his weary mind.

Sei rested her head on Mal\'s shoulder as she gently lifted Cami from his grip.

Anna took that opportunity to straddle him affectionately and he cracked one eye open in mild interest.

"You\'re doing the right thing, you know…? We\'re supposed to be taking care of these people, and that means making some hard decisions sometimes."

"I get that… but I wish that there were better ways. Easier ones…" Mal muttered.

"Even the gods cannot make the sort of decisions that would satisfy all free will and fix every problem. Why do you think that you can?"

Anna was actually quite worried about Mal.

Was he a good leader? Yes.

But she didn\'t always like it on him.

The worries, the responsibility of it all… it sometimes got to Malachi in a way that was hard to watch.

The worry that he had for everyone here was often crippling.

What kind of life was he giving everyone here?

Was it sustainable?

Was he doing all that he could?

He was strong, but was being able to defend those here in a fight enough?

Would Arias do better in his position…?

Malachi voiced these doubts with them less and less, but Anna and the others still knew how to tell what he was thinking with simple exchanges.

Sometimes, she selfishly wished that they were on their own again.

They had a daughter to raise.

And a relationship to keep afloat.

If Malachi was unable to get out of his own head, those things would surely suffer.

And Anna knew that would destroy her.

Though Malachi wasn\'t her first boyfriend, he was her first healthy relationship, and the first man she\'d ever really loved.

She wanted to be with and marry, the real, vibrant him.

Not the budding demigod burdened with too much responsibility.

That version was not her Malachi.

"Zzzz…"

Anna eventually noticed that Mal had somehow dozed off while she was thinking.

A faint pout spread across her lips as she unzipped his jacket and bit his collarbone.

Being engaged to two vampires, having one for a daughter, and being engaged to another girl who typically bit him randomly, had thoroughly eroded any aversion Malachi had to unsuspected biting.

Now, he just saw it as another way that someone was trying to get his attention.

"Mmh?" His eyes barely fluttered open.

"Wake up. You\'re not supposed to fall asleep while I\'m brooding."

"Sorry, babe… Just let me rest my eyes for a little bit and I\'ll let you do your dark knight impression later…"

Malachi leaned forward to give her a small kiss but missed her lips by a mile and ended up with his face buried in her tattooed cleavage.

A faint smile crossed her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the top of his head.

"My defenseless little idiot… What would you do if I was some rando older woman with impure intentions who was trying to take advantage of you?"

*Muffled* "I would probably like it…"

Anna bit Mal hard on the back of his head.

"Ow…"

"Damn right, ow."

*Yawn* "Let him sleep, Anna." Sei suddenly said. "Come over here and relax with us."

Anna suddenly raised her brow.

Sei didn\'t get sleepy.

Like at all.

When it was time to go to bed with everyone, she just used her powers on herself so that she could sleep.

It was either that, or Malachi would ravage her until she fainted.

But Sei\'s blessing from Hypnos made it so that she didn\'t get tired like normal people did.

Which was why seeing her actually yawning was so jarring for Anna.

"Sei? Are you feeling alright?"

"Mhm… Just kind of tired."

Anna grabbed one of Sei\'s breasts and gave it a light squeeze.

"…Annalise, what are you doing?" Sei asked, too tired to smack her hand away.

"Checking to see if you\'re sick."

"Shouldn\'t you feel my forehead for that…?"

"This was closer."

"Are you sure you\'re not just ovulating..?"

"…Mind your business."

Anna\'s gaze went back and forth between Mal who was already sleeping, and Sei who was slowly on her way.

"Let\'s go and get in the bed for the night, loves. You\'ll hurt your backs sleeping here like this."

She held Malachi\'s sleeping face in her hands and gave him a small peck on the nose.

"You especially need to have a good back..."

"What about me?" Sei asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Youll be fine either way, pillow princess."

"Mean.."

Anna started to pull both of them up but they groaned like an old couple and sunk further into their positions.

"Comfortable… Let me stay like this for a while." Sei complained as her eyes finally shut.

"Comfortable?" Anna raised a brow as she looked at the large glass block they were leaning against. "There\'s no way in hell."

She placed a hand on the material for just a bit and was mildly surprised.

It was a cool surface, and extremely pleasant to the touch.

But what was even more surprising was the fact that she noticed something unnatural about it.

"No wonder you three are drowsy… this big boy is sapping your energy. Where the hell did this even come from?"

Even though Anna wasn\'t even speaking that loudly, Malachi\'s eyes still flashed open like he was being woken up by a drill sergeant.

"Wait, what??"

"Woah!"

He stood up immediately with Anna wrapped around his waist.

With a scrutinizing gaze, he placed his hand up to the block once again and paid attention to it much more carefully than he did before.

Anna was exactly right.

It was hardly noticeable at first, but this big lump of magic glass did actively seem to be absorbing energy.

It was like his daughter; just actively consuming more and more no matter how much it was fed.

He had been shoveling power into this damn thing for hours like an idiot because he had overlooked such an important detail!

\'What the hell… Why didn\'t Thea tell me about this…?\'

Mal knew his friend wasn\'t so obsessed with Aubrey that she would have just neglected to share such important information with him.

Which could only mean that she hadn\'t told him on purpose, and this was also part of the exorcise.

His mind began turning backwards as he tried to recall the instances where he had actually been able to put a crack in the structure.

He finally realized that he saw the greatest results when he held his power within for a little bit; almost like he was charging it.

Or refining it.

Mal finally realized that he had been skipping over a key step.

Refining his energy into something that the block couldn\'t swallow, and then shattering it, was the whole point of this game!

And it was all thanks to Anna\'s incessant biting and Sei\'s sudden narcolepsy.

"Babe… You\'re a genius." Mal smiled as he held Anna up.

"I flunked out of high school and had to get my GED??"

"I said what I said."

"You know I was almost on academic probation when we were in college, rig-"

"Babe, just take the compliment."

"Oh, okay."

The two shared a short kiss and Mal started to put her down when suddenly Anna clung to him more tightly.

He felt her lips graze just past his ear and a much softer voice than he was used to made his heart beat out of control.

"I like you much better this way. You tend to make a girl worry when you\'re not acting like yourself.

Be more confident in yourself, yea? Even if you don\'t have all the answers in the moment, you always get there eventually."

Malachi didn\'t quite have the words to say just how moved he was by Anna\'s words, so he kissed her instead.

It would have been much more meaningful and romantic had Sei not slumped over in that moment; causing herself and their baby to spill out onto the floor.

"Ah… We should probably help those two get into bed."