Page 64 of Veil of Night & Flames

I roll my eyes, then glance at Chase, only to see him shaking his head—but I see mirth in his eyes, too.

“Yeah,” I say, holding back a laugh. “I’m very charmed. Now wipe the smug grin off.”

He tilts his head. “As you command, Beloved.”

“Don’t be cute. I’m about to set rules. Adric, you stay out of the Real—really out. No liminal closets, back doors, or sneaky pathways. The Nightmare Realm is yours. You and I see each other on your side, or when I call you here, and that’s it. You don’t drop by because you’re bored or curious or horny. If I’m in danger, come, obviously, but otherwise, wait for an invitation. Understood?”

A long beat. Then, a measured, “Understood.”

“Chase.” I turn to face him. “You don’t get to be cruel about him when he isn’t in the room. You can be furious. You can hate that he exists. You can punch a wall for six hours if it helps. But you don’t make me carry your anger at him, because that makes me the referee in a fight I didn’t pick, and I won’t be that. Deal?”

His jaw flexes. “That’s harder than what you gave him.”

“I know it is.”

“He has to wait at a door. I have to be reasonable.”

“Yeah. You do. Because you’re the one who actually lives in my world. You get more of me. The trade is you have to be a grown-up about the part you don’t get.” I soften, because I love him and because it’s true. “I’m not asking you to like him. I’m asking you not to make me choose by being unbearable. That’s all.”

A long moment passes before he finally says, “Deal,” in the tone of a man about to swallow nails.

“Good.”

“For now,” Adric says.

We both look at him.

“I’m agreeing for now,” he says, perfectly at his ease. “I’m a patient man, and I find I’m willing to be very patient about this particular thing. But I will say plainly—since plainness is the theme of the evening—that I would not object to being on the receiving end of our blood bond next time.”

Chase makes a sound. Something between a strangled laugh and an actual snarl.

Adric, unperturbed, looks at me. “I think you’d enjoy it, too, Beloved.”

I want to deny it. I really, really do. But I’ve just stood in this room and demanded honesty from both of them, and I’m not going to lie now just because the truth is mortifying.

So I don’t say anything. I just close my mouth firmly and feel my face go scarlet, and I see Adric clock it, and I see Chase clock him clocking it, and then Chase’s eyes drop to me.

“Oh my God,” Chase says. “You are thinking about it.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re intrigued.”

“Don’t say intrigued in that tone.”

He looks at Adric. “She’s intrigued.”

“Delicious, isn’t it?”

“Well, it’s interesting, that’s for sure.”

I want to scream for them to stop teasing me. Except I don’t, because it’s them teasing me, rather than snapping at each other, and I think that qualifies as a minor miracle. Or a sign of the apocalypse. Not sure which.

“Cora.”

My head snaps up. “Hmm?”

Adric is smiling now—his slow, infuriating, knowing smile. “I will note for the record that the lady has not denied it.”