CELINE
I toss the journal at the trash can, pumping my fist when I nail the shot on the first try. Putting my thoughts on paper is a waste of time when I could just say them out loud.
“Are you bored,baby?” Luca asks.
I glance at him. His hair is messy, curling around his ears and blocking my view of his new piercing—a tiny pair of flaming titanium wings on his right lobe.
“Come here,” I beg. “I want a closer look at your wings.”
Hazel eyes rolling, he scoots toward me on the couch. “You’ve seen them a hundred times; this is a trap.”
Grinning, I yank my shirt off. “It’s so hot in here,” I complain, stretching my arms over my head and arching my back. “I’m burning up.”
Luca covers his eyes and groans. “Please, put the perfect tits away. We don’t have time, and you know it. If I mess up Alistair’s surprise, he’ll drain me dry.”
“And you’d love every minute of it,” I grumble.
The door to my apartment opens.
“Why is she topless?” Ciprian demands. “Luca, we talked about this.”
Their argument escalates.
I rise from the couch and walk over to join Riven, not bothering to put my shirt back on.
He closes the door and pinches the bridge of his nose, concealing my favorite patch of freckles. “You’re trouble, darling.”
I nod agreeably. I’m doing it on purpose, so there’s no point denying it.
My nervous energy settles as I study the angles of his face. Being apart for any length of time has been difficult. When any of them are out of my sight, I get sweaty and combative, but things are slowly improving for all of us.
It’s been two months since I killed my father.
Recovering from the poison took a while, even with the help of Alistair’s healing potion and the spine’s magic. We all suspect Luca’s bond was the real reason I survived as long as I did. The connection with the basilisk, a highly venomous monster, made me less vulnerable to toxins.
Combined with everything else, I had exactly what I needed to defeat my father and live.
Riven came just as close to death, and a part of me still feels guilty for being unconscious when he needed me most. My truth blast did major damage, but at least it also destroyed what was left of his binding.
Every time he sees himself, he smiles.
It’s given me a mirror kink, and I’m not mad about it.
“I love you,” I tell him, rolling onto my tiptoes for a kiss.
He groans and his arms band around my waist. “Darling, you can’t say that to me while you’re half dressed. I must have you now.”
“Absolutely not.” Malach’s wings tickle my back as he squeezes in behind me, sandwiching me between the two of them. Sheena granted my wish and grew him a new pair. They aren’t quite the same, and he’s still working to condition them for long-distance flights, but the last visible reminder of my father’s brutality is gone, erased, like the rest of his cruel legacy.
“Ali has been working on this nonstop,” Malach reminds me, burying his face in my neck. “If we’re late, it will hurt his feelings.”
It’s the only thing he could have said to make me change my mind, and he knows it.
I glance over my shoulder at the empty apartment. All the art is gone, and the green walls are too pale without it. I’ll miss this place, but there’s not enough room here for all of us.
You might think surviving countless near-death experiences would make figuring out where to live easier. It didn’t. We’ve compromised by agreeing to a time-share situation.
Alistair and Ciprian pooled their money to buy us a house in the Fringes. The neighborhood is rough enough to keep us all on our toes, and the house is awesome.