Page 131 of Imprisoned with the Vampire King

I nodded. "We're in."

It had taken time, but things had continued getting easier between River and I. Moving on felt surprisingly nice.

Having a family did, too.

Having a mate I loved, who also loved me, felt better. But that kind of went without saying.

"River wants to know if you're in for a flying lesson afterward," Dante added, already tucking his phone away again and picking up the pieces of the temporary shelving unit.

I groaned. "My back is still sore from the last one."

"I can rub it better."

I smiled, and when I looked at him, Dante winked.

"Tell River I can do it tomorrow or the next day. I'll have to rub you better after you spend half the day sitting here, watching my pottery sell."

"God knows I'll never say no to that."

We unpacked together smoothly. We'd never done it together before, but we'd gotten pretty used to working as a team.

I'd expected the time we spent together to start fading, after things between us settled, but it hadn't changed at all. Dante still wanted to be around me all the time, and I still wanted that with him, too.

He'd attempted making pottery with me, which had been absolutely hilarious to watch, and a ton of fun.

I'd attempted to understand several detailed business plans and situations. I was pretty sure I'd gotten half of what I learned wrong, but I loved the passion Dante had when he told me about them.

We watched movies together.

We painted and glazed dishes together, too.

He taught me about his shadows, and I explained what the threads of my magic looked like.

Somehow in the craziness of everything that had happened with the prison, I'd picked a mate, fallen in love with him, and become best friends with him, too.

I'd never minded being alone… but my life was even better with Dante in it.

epilogue 2

DANTE—YEARS LATER

"No. Absolutely not," Ophelia said bluntly, her gaze fixed on Jazz. Or, more accurately, the tiny creature in Jazz's arms.

"It's our baby, so it's our choice," Jazz pointed out.

"You can't give a baby a dark guardian angel," Ophelia stated. "That would be straight-up bad luck for everyone involved. Except me. I am the bad luck."

"You're not bad luck," I murmured, also staring at the baby.

"You'll be bad luck for her enemies," River corrected. "Which makes you the perfect kind of guardian angel for a siren, if you think about it."

"Or for anyone, really. Merrily has repeatedly brought up how badly things go for people who try to hurt her or Grayson, since they have those enchanted dishes you gave them," Jazz added. "The other fae royals are still trying to bribe you to make more of them."

"I'm decent at being bad luck," Ophelia said with a shrug. "You all know I have accepted that I am a good person with delicious blood despite the nefarious magic I possess. But I'm still not being someone's dark guardian angel."

"You can't hold her until you say yes," River threw in.

Ophelia glared at him, but there was affection behind the glare.