Here one moment, gone the next?
What would I do?
I’d shatter into a thousand pieces. I’d find his killer and I’d get revenge. I wouldn’t rest until they saw justice.
I feel Nightmare rise to attention.I knew there was something about you—from the very beginning I knew it. Not only do you eat nightmares like it’s second nature, you have fight.
“Chelsea?”
I blink.
“Chelsea,” Mama says. “Earth to Chelsea. Are you in there?”
“Sorry. I was just…thinking.”
Mama rolls her eyes. “Married life must really be good.”
My gaze flicks to Eryx, who looks back at me. My chest warms. “It is good. It’s really, really good.”
But even for as good as it is, everything Nightmare said lingers in the back of my mind, poking at me, prodding.
This thing with Eryx just started. It can’t end—not now.
And for the first time in my life I realize that I’m willing to do anything,anythingto keep this man.
Anything.
On the way home we’re both silent. I sit with a casserole on my lap, something Mom handed me as I made my way out the door.
I didn’t even catch who had made it—Mama, maybe. Maybe Dallas.
All I know is that it smells like chicken. But I’m not hungry. Not after what I learned.
I’m also buzzing with questions. Like, a thousand of them.
Eryx takes my hand and kisses it while he drives. “Everything okay?”
The floodgates open, whether he’s ready for them or not. I can’t keep this inside any longer. “Nightmare told me that someone’s trying to kill you, but you’re not strong enough to take them on alone, and I should join you, and with our combined powers we could burn down the world.”
His mouth flicks into a smile. “‘Burn down the world’? That almost sounds sexy.”
I scoff. “Be serious. Who is it?”
Eryx goes tense. “You won’t believe me if I tell you.”
“Why wouldn’t I believe you?”
“Because I wouldn’t believe it.”
“Try me.”
He gives me a look like,Here goes nothing.“I’ve tracked this person a long time, and when she came to Castleview, I thought I’d won the jackpot.”
“I know everyone in town. Who is it? Eryx, I’ll believe you. I’m your wife.”
We come to a stoplight, and he smiles at me. Really smiles, like he loves that I called myself his wife.
My stomach flips. I love it, too.
