Page 39 of Veil of Night & Flames

Me.

And to a king.

A king who lives in another dimension and whose brother I love.

I sigh. Every day, my life gets just a little bit weirder.

I don’t tell her about the rebellion and the executions, though. Mostly because, although I was horrified by those executions, I still don’t have the bigger picture. All I know is that there’s a threat against Adric. And love him or not, I don’t want to see him hurt.

“What?” Tia says. “You’ve got that look.”

“Just, I don’t know. My life, I guess. It’s gotten kinda complicated.”

“And the Understatement of the Year Award goes to Cora Lyte.”

I take a bow. “Should we go find Riley and food?”

“Have you caught me up?”

“Pretty much,” I say.

“All right, then.” She clears her throat. “Stay tuned for next week’s episode of The Bold and the Brideful,” she says in an announcer-style voice that seems to echo off the small room’s walls.

I roll my eyes. “A soap opera? Seriously?”

“Well, that plus Wuthering Heights. Plus Game of Thrones.”

“That about sums it up,” I say. “Thanks.”

“Always ready to help.” She shifts to look at me. “Speaking of help, Riley knows everything now.”

“Mr. Griffin told us. Glad she’s on the team. And by the way, what’s going on with the Widow Maker?”

“Griffin didn’t fill you in?”

“I asked him to. He said you’d explain it.”

“Just these weird readings that—wait.” Her eyes narrow. “You asked him? How did you know about that in the first place?”

I grimace, then come clean about my jaunt to the Real with Adric.

She lands two hands on my shoulders and shoves me back. “You evil bitch. You didn’t even say hi.”

“I know, I know! Adric wouldn’t let me. He only brought me because I was homesick. A betrothal present.”

She twists her mouth up and narrows her eyes at me. “Fine. You get a pass. But don’t spy on me across realms again. Remember, you’re a heavy sleeper, and I am not squeamish. Could make for some interesting bedtime companions.”

I shudder. “Message received. But about Riley and the Widow Maker...?”

“I’ll let her explain it. My brain would just explode.”

I want to push, but I don’t. We need to get the whole team together today, anyway.

“So what else has been going on?” I ask.

She pulls a face. “Riley made me stop burning sage.”

“What? Why?”