Page 118 of On Brutal Thrones

That's all it takes. I cross the space between us and wrap my arms around both of them.

Thorian stiffens. “Fenric.”

“Shut up. We're having a moment.”

Nyx laughs against his chest.

A second later, Talon sighs like we're asking him to crawl naked through a thorn bush. Then his arms come around us too, and I squeeze harder.

Everyone needs somewhere to belong. Even vampires who pretend they don't. Even demi-gods who think their lives are expendable. Even women who walk into impossible Trials to save their sisters and somehow collect three idiots along the way.

A home isn't always a place. Sometimes it's three other people holding on to you and refusing to let go. And apparently, Thorian is going to have to learn that the hard way.

The hug lasts for a long time.

Happiness swells inside me until I swear there isn’t enough room in my chest to hold it. I have a partner. A wife.

The future mother of my children. Little dark-haired terrors running around her manor while I chase them through the halls and Nyx yells that someone is going to break a priceless vase. Maybe they’ll have her eyes. Maybe they’ll have my temper, though the gods know I hope not. Maybe they’ll have Talon’s terrible sense of humor and Thorian’s tendency to stare silently at people until they confess to crimes they haven’t even committed.

The thought makes my throat tighten. Because it isn’t only Nyx. I have them too.

Thorian and Talon aren't brothers, exactly, but I don't know another word that fits. They're my partners. My family. We're going to eat together and argue together and laugh until someone spits out their drink. We're going to irritate one another for decades and love Nyx as fiercely as we know how. We'll watch one another grow older, if the gods are kind enough to allow it.

We’ll all be on the same team until the mountains crumble into dust and every river runs dry.

The happiness inside me grows so big it almost hurts.

“Let’s do it right now.”

I pull back from the hug so suddenly everyone startles.

Nyx looks up from the middle of us, warm and rumpled in Thorian’s arms. Her damp hair is drying in soft waves around her face, and she looks like she was approximately three breaths away from falling asleep against his chest.

“What are you talking about?” Talon asks.

Thorian understands.

His eyes meet mine. “You want to do that here?”

“Why not?”

“Now?”

“What better time?”

My heart starts pounding as soon as I say it.

Suddenly, this doesn't feel like one of my impulsive ideas anymore.

The fire crackles beside us, filling the night with the smell of smoke and roasted meat. Sparks drift upward and vanish among the stars. Beyond our little circle of light, the Trials stretch endlessly into darkness, filled with creatures and gods and a hundred different ways to die.

Tomorrow, one of those ways might finally succeed.

“We have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. If anything does...”

“It won’t,” Thorian says firmly.

“I know.” I look at Nyx. “But if it does, I want to go knowing this was real. I don’t want to die on a promise.”