Page 38 of Veil of Night & Flames

Her eyes narrow. “You actually, really, flesh and blood fucked the King of the freaking Nightmare Realm.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I just told you that.”

“Are you insane?”

I lean back. Or, more accurately, I’m pushed back by the force of her words. “Possibly,” I snap. “What’s your excuse?”

“Hello? Barriers falling. You brought the damn things down. Don’t you think you should have led with that? I mean, I don’t even have an evac kit ready, and I sure as hell don’t⁠—”

“Stop.” I reach out and grab her arm. “The prophecy wasn’t triggered. The barriers are fine.”

“But—”

“Consummation,” I say. “We’re not married. And I told him that I would never sleep with him after we are married.” I shoot her a wicked grin. “To be honest, I’m hoping we just stay perpetually engaged.”

“Oh.” Then, “Oooh.” She’s quiet for a moment. “Chase must be losing his shit.”

Guilt does a nice little spin through my bloodstream. “Yeah, well, he’s not exactly thrilled with the development, that’s for sure.”

“So he knows.”

I nod.

“And now?”

“I won’t be the cause of the barriers falling. So I told Adric I won’t sleep with him after we’re married. But while we’re just engaged...” I shrug. “And I also told him that I won’t give up Chase.

“Wow.” Her eyes are huge. “Two seriously hot guys, one who’s a freaking king, and you’ve got them both on a leash.”

I grimace. I hardly think either Chase or Adric can be tamed. But for a moment, I let Tia have her glee. She is way too pleased with my predicament, and somehow that makes the predicament seem like something that maybe—hopefully—I can get through and still be sane on the other side.

“What about Whistler?” she asks, her voice going soft.

I just shake my head. “Don’t make me talk about it. I almost lost Chase. We all lost Whistler.” I shudder. “Kali’s horrible wolves. They attacked when we crashed.”

She nods. “Mr. Griffin and I could tell something was wrong from the monitors, but we couldn’t tell what.”

“We thought he was the scary thing out to get us,” I whisper. “That’s where we should have his memorial. That path where he rescued us from Vex.”

“Yeah,” she says. “We should.”

For a moment, silence hangs between us. “I’ll bring candles,” she finally whispers. “Fancy ones. He’d hate that.”

I laugh through my tears. “Yeah. That’s perfect.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Silence hangs for another beat, then she clears her throat. “Tell me the rest of it. Everything that happened.”

And so I take her through the days in the Nightmare Realm, leaving almost nothing out, and when I tell her about the glorious experience of riding through the night sky on the back of a dragon, she sighs.

“You’d like the realm,” I tell her. “It’s scary in places, but beautiful, too. A desolate kind of beauty.”

“Maybe someday,” she says. “I mean, I have to go if you get married. Can’t have a wedding without your maid of honor.”

We share a grin. But the truth is, she’s not wrong.

Married.