AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Our home,” Noctus said. “Doubtless the Paragon will spend the night howling on my porch. We may as well make it an event and tell your siblings everything, assuming you want them to know?”
“Yes!” I said. “Absolutely, yes. I’ll call Joy. Should we come to your house?”
“Call Charon,” Noctus said. “He’ll pick you up when you’re ready.”
“I don’t have his phone number anymore,” I said.
Noctus frowned. “Yes you do.”
“No.” I shook my head. “The number he gave me was disconnected after I left.”
“Yes,” Noctus said. “For safety purposes. And then he contacted you through Book Nookery. Multiple times.”
I started to shake my head again, before it dawned on me. “Wait—is he Mr. Ferryman? The customer who kept purchasing books and never came in to pick them up or answer his voicemail?”
“Yes.”
I laughed in sheer relief. “That was him? I never caught on—he even bought a cat book in his last order.”
“Chloe,” Pat shouted to me before beckoning me over. “You want to come start your statement about all of these…fae?” he asked. “Backup should arrive in five minutes.”
He means we have to get our story ready before the Cloisters get here.
“Sounds like we need to get started.” I took a step toward my brother, my happiness bubbling inside me like a shaken soda can. “I’ll see you at home!”
“Wait.”
Noctus caught me by my wrist with his free hand, his grasp gentle so the edges of his metal gauntlets didn’t so much as scratch my skin. He hooked his rapier on his belt, then pulled his helm off, tossing it aside.
His hair was tousled, fanning across his forehead, and his hazel eyes were dark in the cover of the night, but I could still see that the spiral pupils were swirling.
He tugged on my wrist, pulling me close.
Gawking at him as I was, I staggered closer, smacking into his chest.
Noctus eased his hand along my jaw, stopping so he cradled the back of my head as he studied me. His gaze flickered down, and I realized the source of his fascination: the collar. Since I’d put it back on, it peeked out of the neckline of my sweaters.
Oh, oh, he knows. He knows I really care about him, and that I—
“I love you, Amalourne.” Noctus leaned over and kissed me.
Like,reallykissed me, his lips on mine, overwhelming all my senses.
For a second, I was stiff like a board.
Is this really okay? Can we really be together?
Noctus tilted my head a little, and I felt the lace of my collar flex with the movement, bolstering me.
There was nothing keeping us apart, not anymore.
I melted into the kiss, my hands gripping the front of Noctus’s tabard to ground myself. Kissing Noctus was like being immersed in elf magic, but the sharpness had softened to a gentle caress.
Wait, he’s kissing me…and I just had the equivalent of a gravel pit in my mouth.
I pulled back from Noctus, breaking off our kiss.
“Mouthwash,” I blurted out. “I need mouthwash! I haven’t rinsed my mouth off since the pendant—”
