Wyatt rubbed his lips together, nervous energy drawing a tight wrinkle between his brows.
The pancakes were working too well—soaking the booze up like it was their one mission. It was the first time all night I actually wished the overwhelming haze would come back.
Rainbow Roulette. Lochlainn’s life-altering question. Images crashed in. Cold. Sobering. A firehose blast of reality.
Damn it.
And of course, how could I forget all the reasons I’d been avoiding David. The sudden emergence of myFloramancy, the news that I’d entered into Fecunditas, and now the bombshell about Lochlainn . . .
I pushed my plate away, scraping the kitchen countertop.
“Okay.” Hot air flooded slowly out my nostrils. I combed my hands through my hair. “Soooo somestuffkinda happened recently that I’ve been meaning to tell you,” I grumbled out.
“Uh-huh,” David said, an eyebrow already doing trapeze stunts.
“Just—don’t freak out, all right?” I raised my hands in plea, but they doubled as a shield from the incoming hurricane.
His brow arched even higher.
“I—I’ve entered into Fecunditas. The Eostre Trials.” I flinched at the words.
My eyesshut, bracing for a torrent of verbal impact. Grenades, screaming, flaming arrows. Hell breaking loose. Maybe a tornado to rip the roof straight off the house.
But instead—nothing. Absolute silence.
I cracked one eye open.
David stood, arms crossed, leaning against the kitchen island. His expression was unnervingly unreadable. No screaming. No meltdown. What was happening?
Just silence. Which, somehow, seemed infinitely worse.
Wyatt’s mouth pulled in at the corner, eyes flicking toward David, as if waiting, anticipating.
“I know,” David said flatly. The words flopped out like a dead fish thrown on the table.
Just two words, but they struck like a slap across my face. The weight of the fork in my hand became too heavy, clanking on the plate.
“W-what?”
“I. Know,” David enunciated, each staccato sounding like the scuff of a gavel. “I’ve been working with Faelad on some . . .issues.”
His stare was calm and unwavering. Like the ear-piercing quiet before detonation of a bomb.
“So imagine my surprise when the Lord of Luckland informs me thatmyowndaughterwas nominated to enter Fecunditas!”
Wyatt silently refilled my water glass, pushing it forward like a peace offering. “We’ve known all week,” he said gently. “But were hoping you’d tell us on your own.”
David’s arms shot wide, wider than his eyes.
Here we go . . .
“Do you get a thrill from tiptoeing on Death’s doorstep?” David snapped. “Was nearly dying—not once, buttwice—notenough for you?” For a moment, red, crackling energy pulsed around his body, before flickering out as he expelled a breath.
My shoulders slumped. Not from defeat, but exhaustion.
“My inkling,” I murmured. “I justknowthe box, the one from my dream, is somewhere in Eostre Land. It’s calling to me.” I let out a long, heavy breath that sagged at the edges. My head shook, knowing I probably sounded ridiculous.
My forehead fell to my hands on the countertop, the thump making my fork rattle.
