Page 27 of Veil of Night & Flames

But the words did not come. He could be magnanimous in victory. Cora was his bride, after all. “Fine,” he said. The acceptance was genuine, and yet still came reluctantly.

Chase searched his face as if looking for the lie.

“You have my word.” And in the moment, Adric meant it.

Chase held his gaze a beat longer. Then he turned without a word and faded into the crowd.

Adric turned to find Cora still in her uncle’s arms. The musicians had moved to something gentler—strings and a low flute meant to round out the evening. Her hair caught the firelight as she tipped her head back, laughing at something Finn had said. For a moment, she looked like a young girl, not a bride-to-be who had just told the king of four realms that she was leaving him.

The fist around his heart tightened.

She was his. By law. By blood. By the vial at her throat. She would come back to him. She had said so. And he believed her.

He just did not know, watching her now, whether she would come back as the woman who had laughed in his arms in St. Augustine, or as a woman who would learn to live with him because she must.

He thought about his promise to Chase. Stay out of the Real. He had meant it. He would keep it.

But the liminal space was not the Real. Not technically. The training ground Kali had demanded ages ago was a sliver of territory that sat in the margin between realms and belonged to none and allowed access to all. She had pitched it to him as a military necessity, and it was. His forces needed to be prepared to fight in any realm, to thwart uprisings in Retribution or magical treason in the Unseen. Or any other form of rebellion that might rear its ugly head.

The fact that he could stand in it and be close to Cora without breaking his promise was more than a happy coincidence. It was excellent planning. A king needed to keep an eye on his subjects, after all.

He did not move. He did not cross the floor and cut in. He let her dance with her uncle. He let her have the moment that did not include him.

He was learning, slowly, that there were things love did not give him the right to interrupt.

As he watched, the reception swirled around him—music, firelight, the murmur of a court that had waited millennia for this night.

He’d keep his promise. He’d stay out of the Real.

Technically, anyway.

Chapter

Nine

Ifind Finn at the edge of the dance floor, holding two glasses of something pale and effervescent. “There you are,” he says, handing me one. “You look so lovely.” He smiles in that loose, dreamy way he’s had since I found him in the library.

“He won’t let you come home with me,” I say.

“Home? Who?”

“Adric. He won’t let me take you back. I asked. I’m going to ask again. And again and again until he says yes.”

Finn tilts his head. “Cora, sweetheart. I think we are home.”

My chest tightens as I shake my head, and I force myself not to panic. “No, remember? They took you away from your house. From campus. You’re the dean of St. Augustine College, and you were pulled into this world. It’s just like the stories Mom told you. You said you didn’t believe her, but they were true. And now we’re both here in another realm. A dream realm.”

“A dream,” he repeats with a nod. “Yes, most definitely a dream.”

I force back a wave of frustration, then work to keep my voice low and calm. “It’s more than a dream. You’re really here. You’re really and truly in a castle in another realm.”

He cups my cheek with his palm. “Oh, sweet girl. Of course you’d be here, too, just as Cassie is. My sweet niece. My big sister.” His smile lights up his eyes. “It’s a wonderful dream.”

I rub my temples. “Uncle Finn⁠—”

“I’ve missed her so much.” He takes a sip, then lifts the glass in approval. “You should join us sometime. She’d love to see you.”

For just a moment, I go cold, then the ice melts into longing. Mom is dead, and Finn is dreaming—imagining he’s seen her just like I did.