AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And I was grinning as I walked back to Teris, with my head held high.
“Ready?” I asked him.
“Yup.” He only looked slightly annoyed by my conversation with Remmo—so obviously, I had made the right decision. If I kissed Teris in front of Remmo, he’d lose his shit.
I stopped a short distance in front of the sabertooth, and widened my stance like my man had taught me. My fists formed the correct position, and with one smooth motion, I punched Teris.
Not hard—I really wasn’t great at hitting hard—and right in the abs.
He didn’t even flinch.
But excitement coursed through me anyway.
Because I hadn’t shut down.
I hadn’t panicked.
I looked over my shoulder at Remmo, and found him grinning and giving me a thumbs-up.
So I punched Teris again, a little harder.
And a third time, even harder.
When he still didn’t flinch, barely even bothered by the hits, it encouraged me. I kept going, kept punching him, showing myself that I could do this. That I could fight, without losing my mind or losing my shit.
That I wasn’t broken at all.
When I finally stepped back, practically beaming at my ex—well, not at him, but just beaming in general—I offered him a hand.
He eyed my hand, not sure what to do with it.
“Humans usually shake hands after fights,” I said.
It was honestly just a theory, but I was going with it. It wasn’t like Teris knew any better.
He awkwardly took my hand and shook it harder than he needed to. I released him with a simple, “Thank you.”
He grunted in agreement, and then turned and started to walk away. After a few steps, he paused.
And then slowly turned back around and covered the distance between us. His hands slipped into the pockets of the strange ripped pants he always wore. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” he said. “And I hope he makes you happy.”
His voice sounded honest, and I knew he wasn’t one for lying or wasting words.
“He does,” I said honestly. “And I’m sorry too. I should’ve walked away a long time ago.”
He dipped his head in the smallest nod, and then turned and strode through the crowd.
Remmo was hauling me up into his arms and tossing me into the air a moment later. Laughter cut through me as whoops rippled around us. Every unseelie I saw was grinning, and many of them were cheering—cheering for me because I’d faced my demons.
Or dick, I supposed.
My eyes stung anyway. “You’re going to make me cry,” I told him, grinning despite the way they were watering.
“Happy tears are allowed, Iloli,” Remmo said with a smile. “And now, we’re going to go scrub your hand until it doesn’t stink any longer.”
A laugh escaped me, and similar sounds rolled through the fae around us.
It hadn’t occurred to me before, what us being together would mean for the unseelies. All they’d ever had was unhappy couples, so we were the first for them.
