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“And mine?”
“Just Whiskey. For now.” He offers a crooked smirk. “She’s right. You have the next five thousand years to catch up.”
Curious, I lean over his glass and sniff. “Hmm.”
“What is it?” he asks warily.
“Smells a bit like opium. Mixed with…” I sniff again. “Ogre’s blood maybe?”
I straighten and he stares back at me, horrified. “I’ve been drinking Meech’s blood?”
“Who’s Meech?”
He jerks a thumb at the bartender, and I bite my lip to keep from laughing.
His eyes narrow. “You think this is funny?”
“I think I can do better,” I say, nodding at the drink.
His glare turns to an intrigued gleam. “How?”
I shrug. “Not sure if you’ve heard, but I’m pretty good with poisons.”
He grins. “Oh, I know all about you, little assassin. Tell you what, next time we drink with Styx, we’ll have a little taste test. You versus Meech.”
“Challenge accepted,” I say and then tip my glass up with all the others.
The next hour passes with toasts, jokes, and stories. The lifetime of memories shared between Legion and his friends only makes me feel closer to them all. It’s a beautiful reminder of what I’ve become a part of. And it makes me think of Juniper and my parents with just enough sadness that I decide to get some air.
Slipping out the door into the darkness, I’m surprised to find Kendall outside.
“Hey,” I say, “What are you doing out here?”
“Needed some air,” she says.
I nod, noting the blades she wears in the leather holsters strapped to her middle. She never goes anywhere without them. We haven’t talked about them since that day in the cavern below the club. Something tells me Kendall will talk when she’s ready. And I still have some making up to do on that front.
“I’m glad you’re out here,” I tell her. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
“What’s wrong?” she asks. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” I smile sadly as I realize it’s going to take some more time before she accepts we don’t live a life of constant danger anymore. It’s going to take time for me too. “But I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“Everything, really. For refusing to see how capable you were these last several years. For dismissing your visions. For going off without you to face Uziah and Maricha. I’m so sorry, Kendall. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Of course I forgive you, Tor. You were being protective. You had to fill the role of a parent as well as a big sister. You raised me, and I’m so grateful for it, but it couldn’t have been easy.”
“Thank you, but it hasn’t been easy on you either and that’s on me. I should have made you feel like you could talk to me.” I glance at the blades she wears. “You said you felt called to those things for a while. You should have been able to come to me.”
“Don’t blame yourself for that. I mean it. I wasn’t ready to talk about it because I needed time to understand it for myself.”
“Your gift is clearly more powerful than I realized. And the fighting?” I can’t help but lift my brows at that.
She grins ruefully. “Yeah, my training with Natalia was a bit broader than I mentioned.”
“She knew, didn’t she? Natalia. That’s why she wouldn’t let you stay with her when this all began.”
