Page 70 of On Burning Paths

“We’ll need long sticks, rags, and some sort of fuel to keep the fire going.”

“Fuel?”

“Could be animal fat, some sort of oil⁠—”

“Nyx and I will get the fuel,” Thorian says, “the two of you find sticks and get them ready.”

“Perfect,” Talon mutters, as we turn and head into the woods, moving quickly. “Make the vampire play with fire.”

I find the first stick, thick enough to sustain, long enough that we won’t burn our hands with it, and Talon clears his throat.

“I've been thinking…” Talon begins.

“Finally! Good for you, man!”

He rolls his eyes. “More specifically about Nyx and us.”

“Enlighten me,” I say as I pick up another stick.

“You saved her life, huh? In the beginning, when the beasts were first released. I saw you.”

My stomach swoops. Where's this going? “Yeah. Used a staff against one of those monsters.”

Talon nods, finds a stick, and holds it up for me to inspect. I nod back. It should work.

“So…you were drawn to her from the start?” He glances at me with the last word, raising an eyebrow.

Of course it’s true. I don’t understand how a man could not be drawn to her. Or a woman, or anyone for that matter. She’s beautiful. Enchanting. Easy to love.

The moment I saw her in the banquet hall, I had to talk to her.

"I saved her from the flower in the garden," Talon says, almost to himself, crouching to inspect a stick before dropping it again. "Before any of this. Before I even knew who she was." He's quiet for a moment. "I didn't know why I did it. I just couldn't not."

“There’s just something about her, like I never want to be away from her,” I admit.

He stands and moves forward a few steps, then glances back at me. "Where do you think this is going?"

The words come easily. "We win. We save our families. And then we go to Nyx's lands and help her restore them. Together. As her husbands. Her family."

Talon stares at me.

"That easy?"

"It could be," I say. "Think about it. We're all in love with her." My throat tightens slightly on the words, but I don't take them back. "We've all been willing to die for her. We all—" I pause, searching for the right way to say it. "Last night wasn't awkward. It wasn't complicated. Four people who barely know each other, and it felt completely natural. That means something."

Talon is quiet for a long moment, looking out into the trees.

"We fit," I say simply. "All four of us. I don't know how else to explain it, but we do."

Talon laughs then, low and genuine, shaking his head as he tosses a small stick back to the ground. "I suppose we are a good team when we're all focused on the same thing."

That thing being Nyx’s pleasure. Just thinking about her, about the way she felt, her head thrown back, hair trailing down…

“You have to get better at controlling your dick, man.” Talon laughs, and I throw a stick in his direction. I don’t like that the vampire can tell when I’m turned on. At least, not outside the context of last night.

“Whatever,” I tease back. Talon finds the last stick we need for the torches and adds it to the pile in my hands, and we start back in the direction of the cave.

When he first joined the team, I’d worried, as Thorian did, that Talon might have been a spy. A mercenary. I don’t feel that way anymore.