Nodding at her, I turnto Jace.“To the woman we all loved.”
A shudderrunsthrough him as he liftshis glass.“To the queen she would have been.”
My fingers tighten on mydrinkas I remember how hard I begged her to take the crown.To let me kill Seqora outside of the fairy ring.But she refused to win by cheating; she said that would fracture our people even more.I didn’t care.
I didn’t fucking care.
Looking at me sadly, she murmurs, “Even if I won, we’re at waron all fronts.I’m not the rulerRazaneedsright now,Dickie.You are.”
A soft touch on my handdown at my sidecausesme tostill.My wife’s fingers thread through mine and squeeze.A squeeze Ifeelall the way in my heart.She gives me peace within the panic.Draws a straight line in the chaos of my mind.And gods, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve her.
“To the pain in the ass she was,” Nicholassayswith a soft chuckleas his eyes find mine, and despite the agony in my chest, I smile.Aurelia wasmore stubborn thanhimand Jace combined.
My smile slippingagain, I raise my glass, asdoNicholas and Jace.Right as welift them to our lipsthough,Arienna cutsin with a soft, “To the wonderful bookworm who would have loved that library.”Tears shine in her eyes.
Burn in mine.
A ragged noise of torment is pulled from Jace.
Tossing my head back, Idownthe entirety of my glass,but it’s not my throat that burns.
To Aurelia.
I wish you were here.
Forty-Three
A good brownie doesn’t deliberately destroy someone’s belongings.
Then don’t wear something with an excessive amount of frickin’ buttons.-Arienna
My heart aches as I stare at the monster I love.
Icanhear Fabia screaming in my brain, telling me howinsanely stupidI’m being,and maybeIamdumb and naive and whatever else she wantsto call me.But Iamalso right in this.I know it in my heart.
I love him.
Icannot kill him.Idonot want to kill him.
Butof coursetonightisthe night Isomehow managed to convince my best friend to hide in his bedroom with a bottle of poison.A friend whoisexpecting me to lead Richard up there so wecankill himtogether.
Oh, bugger.I’ve really messed up.
But I’ll fix it.I’ll keep Richard out of his rooms all night.ThenI’ll make a poster like I did with the wasps, and that’ll convinceher to let me keep him.This time, I won’t let her get rid of my monster.
My thoughts churning, I start drafting up all the points that will surely sway her.
HERE BE KNOWN:
1.King Morningstar is not a cannibal.He did not eat those children during the Feast of Kulther like you think.He merely burned them.He did not roast them.Nor cook them.Nor barbecue them.He just threw them onto a fire and called it done.
2.I am pretty certain he is not into necrophilia as he really likes it when I rub myself against him.He also seems obsessed with tasting my pussy, and as you remember when we had that famine,even necros don’t like nom-ing on dead vagina.
3.Just because he’s a monster doesn’t make him amonster, you know.He is sweet and kind behind all his grumpiness and killing of things.
4.He saved my wasps.Himself.Anyone who loves animals is a good person.
5.He promised to let me peg him in a month’s–
