Page 148 of Sky’s Edge

They were saying this would be done by Dead Winter.

Speaking of Dead Winter…

The last big thing that had happened, I’d broken the seal and gone to dinner at Mom and Dad’s.

I was me. Dad was Dad. He’d ticked me off and made a grave mistake. He knew it. I knew he knew it. He didn’t apologize for it. I knew he wouldn’t. That said, I also knew he told Tanyn he’d use the entirety of the Truelock fortune to extricate me from it, if necessary.

So there was that.

Also, Tanyn and I were definitely a thing. I couldn’t hide it and didn’t. I shared we were spending weekends and one night a week together. Mom was pleased. Dad visibly struggled with rubbing it in that he’d made the perfect match for me, when it was seeming more and more that he did.

As such, there was that too.

Even so, I kept things frosty because…again, I was me.

I’d thaw. He knew it.

But appearances had to be kept, and by that, I meant grudges had to be held.

So he acted like nothing was amiss. Mom did a lot of rolling her eyes and sighing (at both of us). But eventually, we all knew the frost would melt and things would go back to normal.

My pride, though, needed protecting, so they were giving me space for that.

However, I did take advantage of this, telling him Zyra and Mangold had invited us to Sigil for Dead Winter, and Tanyn wanted us all to come.

Dad looked less than thrilled about this prospect (he was, obviously and unapologetically, a traditionalist, and our tradition was to always have Dead Winter at home).

But Mom jumped at it right away.

So we were doing Dead Winter at Sigil.

I couldn’t wait.

In the end, except for Gayle, everything was great and the future was bright.

Zyra and Mangold would be coming down with Tanyn the next evening. I’d offered them one of my guest bedrooms, which they declined not only to give Tanyn and I privacy, but to have some for themselves.

But I had the whole weekend planned.

A visit to my gallery.

Tours of not only Spikeback, but also the Celestial Palace (it was good to have the right connections).

An after-hours VIP visit to the Musée Histoire de Guerre (something Manny wanted to do).

Dinner in a private dining room at the fabulous restaurant, Dragon’s Fire (I would have taken them to Sirk’s restaurant, Stained Glass, the best in all of Nocturn, but I was still mad at him).

And Zyra and I were going to go shopping together with Mom.

I hadn’t spent a lot of time with them, but I was super excited to see them again.

And I’d have Tanyn for two whole days.

Much to look forward to.

However, there I was, ready for bed, wearing nothing but a short, silk, midnight-blue nightie, and I’d just spent a full half an hour wandering my flat in the dark.

The downstairs kitchen, living room, dining room, reading room, and the two guest bedrooms and baths.