Page 183 of By the Flames of Her Fury

One Year Later

“Emperor’s tits, are you two not even dressed yet?” Clarissa Aris exclaimed, rushing into my room in a fury. She stopped dead in her tracks. “And what is my baby holding?”

I glanced over at Rose Wolff and the bouncing baby girl in her lap, whose chubby fists were currently curled around a stretch of snake skin. Little Lena cooed and threw the snake skin in the air when she spotted her mother.

“Relax, Rissa.” Rose waved a hand. “It’s dead. This is just the skin.”

The empress shook her head. “That does not make me feel better. Why does my seven-month-old have a piece of snake skin?”

“Because we were out of toadstool,” I deadpanned.

“Because you told us to give her a rattle when she cried,” Rose chimed in.

Clarissa blinked at us. “Her toy rattle, not a rattlesnake.”

Rose and I looked at each other and shrugged. “We were close,” I said.

“This is my fault.” Clarissa sighed dramatically. “It’s what I get for leaving the two of you in charge of my child.”

Rose snorted. “Could’ve been worse. Vera was lighting candles with fire magic because it made Lena laugh, but then⁠—”

“Okay, play time’s over!” Clapping my hands, I reached for Lena. I bounced her on my hip and raised my voice in a mock-baby tone. “The last thing I need is for your mommy to shift and rip my throat out, isn’t it, little girl?”

“I would never,” Clarissa said. “I’m the empress. I have people who do that sort of thing for me. Now, the two of you need to get dressed. Devora said if you’re not in the entryway in fifteen minutes, she’s going to have Milo curse you in your sleep.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Devora said that?”

Mimicking my expression, Rose crossed her arms. “Good try, Rissa. I just saw her and Nox sneak into the supply closet.”

“Didn’t need to know that,” I said, making a face.

Clarissa sighed. “It was worth a try. Nobody around here seems to care that it’s their wedding day, for Fate's sake.”

The entire Keep was bursting with guests for Nox and Devora’s big day. The empress and her husband, Thorne, brought a battalion of people from the capital—hairdressers, bakers, florists, guards, and of course, their two daughters. The entire Ashen Order was also present, as well as the orphans who still lived here. The younger children spent the last week decorating the halls with white and blue paper chains that hung from every inch of the ceiling like drapes.

Nox and Devora’s other friends from around the empire arrived a few days ago, two of which were Rose and her fiancé, Leo. Everett and I had gotten close with the two of them over the last year. We ran into them in Rose’s home province of Feywood when we took a couple months to travel, and she and I became fast friends, much to Everett and Leo’s chagrin.

We were menaces, honestly.

“Is it time yet?” a voice boomed from the door. Thorne Aris, Clarissa’s husband and Emperor Consort, strolled into the room. A young girl sat atop his shoulders with bronze curls framing her face, so long they dangled down and tangled with Thorne’s own thick, brown hair and beard. Lena wiggled in my arms at the sound of her father’s voice, and I turned her so she could see Thorne.

Everett appeared behind him, his eyes searching the room until they landed on me. His lips curved into a smile. Even after all this time, the sight of him still made my heart trip. There was always a moment of disbelief, the urge to hold my breath until I could be sure this was real. But then he crossed the room and slid into place behind me, hands steady at my waist as he rested his chin on my shoulder.

“You okay, Songbird?” he murmured, the scruff on his chin scraping my neck.

I smiled. “Never better.”

“Rissa, just wait and see what Uncle Leo let me do to him!” Marigold, Thorne’s daughter from his first marriage, giggled on top of his shoulders. “I made him all pretty.”

“Oh, this will be good,” Rose said with a wicked grin.

We all turned to the doorway, where Leo stood in the shadows, lips pursed with the most exasperated expression on his face. At Marigold’s prodding, he begrudgingly stepped inside. My eyes swept down his white dress shirt and neat black pants, then to the ground. His furry brown tail, a product of his half-Shifter bloodline, swiped across the floor. White, blue, and purple flowers were braided into the fur, twisting all the way up its length.

He pointed at Rose, whose lips were clamped shut so tight, they were turning white. “Not a word,” Leo growled.

“Isn’t he pretty, Aunt Rose?” Marigold sang.

“Oh, he’s just the most beautiful monkey boy in all the empire,” Rose crooned, skipping across the room to plant a kiss on Leo’s cheek. He turned away from her with a scowl, but I didn’t miss the way his hands instantly went to her waist, pulling her closer as his flower-speckled tail caressed her ankle.