Page 109 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

“I woke up.” I look down at my hands, now twisted in the thin blanket. “He was gone, but I saw him outside. On the street.” I lick my lips. “And I followed him.”

I realize I’m shaking and have to close my eyes and hug myself. And when I open them again, I tell her everything. The park. The trees. My mother’s plaque.

And Chase’s confession about killing the Brides. About killing my mother.

“All of them?” she asks from behind the hand that’s flown to her mouth.

I nod, blinking furiously to stop yet another waterfall of tears. “He did all of that. He killed them over and over and over. My ancestors, all of them.” I draw in a hard breath, then lift my chin and meet her eyes. “He slept with me,” I whisper. “He slept with me knowing that he’d done all of that.”

“But why? Why is he killing them off?”

I tell her the rest of it, trying to stay focused and unemotional. Just stating the facts. Just telling the tale. And ending with the last Bride left. Me.

“But he didn’t kill you.”

“I know,” I say, then start crying again. “He didn’t even say anything. When I finally looked up and around, he was just gone.”

“He loves you,” she says, which makes my stupid tears come even faster.

“That’s what’s so horrible,” I tell her. “I really believe that he does. I think I love him too. Or I did. But now? How can I love him after what he did?”

She shrugs, then bites her lip, looking down at her hands before raising her face to mine. “Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe you can’t. But he made some really hard choices, you know?” She takes a shuddering breath. “The truth is, I don’t really know how to process it. But I’m one hundred percent here for you. Shoulder, punching bag, whatever you need.”

I sniffle as she pulls me into another tight hug. “Thanks,” I whisper. “Ever since I saw that tree, I feel like I’ve been walking on quicksand. Like something inside me broke, and I’m only half in the world, you know?”

Her thumb strokes my knuckles. “You’re not broken. Mixed up, sure. I mean, sex isn’t ever simple. But you add in some weird family history and a king who’s looking to marry you and a boyfriend who’s supposed to kill you to save the world, but hasn’t? Well, that’s a lot of cosmic bullshit to be wrapped up in. So, you know, I figure you’re winning at life if you’re even only seventy-five percent sane.”

I laugh—like, really laugh, then wrap her in another tight hug.

“And that’s a lot of good mojo on his part too. I mean, he’s picking you over, well, potential Armageddon. I mean, I think you’re worth it…”

I shake my head. “I love you, you know.”

“And, again with the straight girl teasing.”

“Oh, please. You’d toss me aside for Riley in a heartbeat.”

Tia grins and sighs. “That’s why we’re friends. You know me so well.”

For a moment, neither of us says anything. Then she says, “You guys need to talk. You need to tell him how you feel. And that you’re not going to be marrying Adric, much less doing the horizontal mamba with him, right?”

“So many times right,” I say. Though maybe I hesitate. Just a little.

“Oh, hell,” she says, proving that she already knows me better than anyone.

“I am not going to sleep with Adric. And I’m definitely not marrying him.”

“But you’re hot for him?”

My cheeks burn. “I’m hot for both of them.”

She just shrugs and looks smug. “Nothing wrong with that,” she says. “Just so long as you’re not going to marry one and destroy the universe. You’re keeping that off your dance card, right?”

I actually laugh. “There’s a question I never expected to be asked.”

“And folks say college is the same as high school. Puh-lease.” She clears her throat. “Right…”

I give her my best sideways glare. “Right. No world-ending wedding-night sex on my agenda, ever.”