I exhaled sharply, dragging my hands down my arms. I didn’t want to think about it. If I did, I’d have to admit how wrong it had been.
And how ruinously right it had felt.
It had been years since I’d kissed anyone. Somehow, I’d given that to him—the one being I’d spent a century running from. The one who kept asking me to die.
Day returned with a dark leather bag, dangling it on one finger in front of me. “Here ya go, princess.”
“That’s not my bag, Day. The two black duffels and the backpack should have been in the room I stayed in.”
His eyes gleamed with mischief. “Yeah, I tossed them out.”
I frowned. “Youtossedmy bags out? All of my stuff?”
“I threw the bags out, but don’t worry. Everything’s in here.” He swung the bag back and forth in front of my face. “It’s a gift—from me, to you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I hope for your sake you’re lying.”
“Time can’t lie,” he said.
Snatching the bag from his hands, I opened the flap and peered inside. It was empty. “Where’s my stuff—”
“You have to reach inside, silly.” Day grabbed the bag back, shoving his hand into the opening, it swallowed his arm whole, up to his shoulder.
It could not be that deep, but then his head disappeared as he leaned in further, and I wondered if I was still drunk.
“It’s enchanted,” Grim’s voice came from behind me, amused. I turned to find him standing there, watching the spectacle. “It can hold anything you want. As much as you want.”
His point was proven as Day began to toss my clothes out of the bag, pulling out my copy ofDante’s Infernoand some of Ishani’s artwork.
“Whoa, okay, I get it, we do not need to throw my underwear around, thank you very much.” I snatched the bag from his hands, shoving the clothes back into the seemingly endless depths. Grim handed me my book, carefully tucking Ishani’s artwork inside the cover.
“Ready?” he asked, smile tight and gaze caught on the book with the rainbow drawing peeking out from the top.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Feodora strode in, her feather-trimmed robe trailing behind her in a crimson blur. “It’s been a pleasure, dear. You’re welcome anytime.” Fate kissed both of my cheeks, holding my face gently as she stared into my eyes. “I mean it, Astoria. Come back and visit. I wish you nothing but the best in your endeavor.”
“Thanks, Feo.” I let her crush me into another hug, a feather tickling my nostrils. “For everything,” I added.
“Death,” she said, nodding toward him. “Remember what I said.”
I watched their exchange, following the subtle line of tension that rolled through Grim’s shoulders as his gaze dropped to thefloor. But before I could make sense of it, Day pulled me into another bear hug, stealing my attention.
“I’ll see you around, Storybook. I’ll pop in soon, can’t have you forgetting all about me.”
Laughing, I kissed his cheek. “I could never forget you, Day.”
Grim’s hand landed on Day’s shoulder, giving him a gentle push away. “Okay, that’s enough of that.”
I grinned back at him over Grim’s shoulder, reluctant to be led away. One evening wasn’t enough with them. My mother raised me to fear Fate, and I’d formed my own conclusions about Time, but they were more than what I’d imagined them to be.
Grim opened the door to the room he’d been hiding in earlier. “Are you ready?”
“I think so?” I wasn’t confident about whatever new trick he had up his sleeve. True to form, Death had kept me in the dark, offering no clues about where we were going or what we were doing. He kept asking if I trusted him, and while my answer was a resolute no, my irritation was starting to fade.
He grinned down at me, his pearly white smile making a rare appearance. “Great, because there’s a chance this may hurt.”
With those few dreadful words and a small shove against my back, I was falling into a nothingness I couldn’t explain.
