Page 153 of Something Handsome This Way Comes

“Yes.” Grievance squeezed his hand. “Yours.”

Milo approached the lantern first. He dipped his fingers into the bowl of crushed Blazemoth Dust, coating his fingertips in the semi-transparent powder. Then he reached inside the glass case and snapped his fingers beside the wick. The dust ignited with a soft whump, and the flame caught immediately, filling the lantern with a bright violet glow.

Grievance copied him, but when he snapped his fingers, Milo knew the color had changed for him—though to Milo it remained violet.

“Green?” he asked.

Grievance nodded. “Purple?”

“Violet.”

“Violet is a kind of purple.”

“Yes, but violet is a more beautiful way to say it.”

Grievance thought a moment, then said, “Then mine would be… peridot.”

Milo smiled. “Like your eyes.”

They stared at the flickering flame for a moment. Then, all around them, the world began to brighten. Milo looked around, alarmed for a moment, thinking the sun was rising and they’d been out all night. But quickly he realized it wasn’t the sun at all. The mushrooms surrounding the clearing began to brighten like torches, one after another, until the whole forest seemed to glow.

Milo stared. “Well.” He swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. “If that isn’t a good omen, I don’t know what is.”

Grievance wrapped both arms around him from behind.

“You believe in omens?”

“I’m a witch. It’s practically a professional requirement.”

A kiss pressed into his curls. Milo rested his hands over Grievance’s arms and looked at the lantern. A year ago, he never could have imagined this.

A mate.

A family.

A home that had somehow become louder, stranger, messier, and fuller than he’d ever dreamed it could be. And something told Milo they weren’t finished yet.

Not even close.

Whatever came next—wicked, wild, wonderful, or something else—Milo knew one thing for certain.

He wouldn’t face it alone.

Their lantern was lit.

And there was so much light ahead.