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“Whoever said normal isn’t complicated?” he countered. “All I know is that whatever tomorrow or next year or the next millennium has in store for this world, I want to face it at your side.”
Her expression softened. She leaned closer, brushing a strand of his hair back with her free hand.
They weren’t the Hind and a Crown Prince of the Fae. Weren’t Day and Night. Right then, there, they were simply Lidia and Ruhn. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
But Ruhn got to his feet and walked to the kitchen, opening the fridge. The other request he’d made of the realtor: stock the fridge with one thing and one thing only.
Maybe the veritable frat house wasn’t entirely gone. He walked back to the couch and handed Lidia a beer.
“As promised, Day,” he said, twisting off the cap on his bottle. “One beer.”
She looked at the bottle, pure delight shining on her face. She twisted the cap off her own beverage, but got to her feet and clinked her bottle against his before drinking. “To a normal life, Ruhn.”
Ruhn leaned in to kiss her, and Lidia met him halfway. And the love and joy in him glowed brighter than starlight as he said against her mouth, “To a normal life, Lidia.”
* * *
It would take the wolves of the Den a few days to come back from where they’d been lying low. But they were coming back.
Ithan didn’t know if it was Amelie’s order or if Perry had asked them, but everyone was returning. Perhaps just to see how shitty he’d be at leading them as Prime.
Or to assess the dynamic without the Fendyrs.
Or to get their stuff before the firstlight power grid failed and chaos reigned.
Ithan stood in the command center of the Aux headquarters, Flynn and Dec across from him, the former eyeing Perry with an interest Ithan didn’t entirely appreciate.
Perry was blushing, and Ithan didn’t appreciate that, either.
But Ruhn and Lidia walked in before Ithan could say anything stupid, and the former Fae Prince said, “So, first things first: I think it sucks that we save the world and still have to be back at work two days later.”
Perry laughed, and … okay, maybe Ithan liked the sound.
But Lidia said, grave and yet serene, “I’m expecting a report tonight regarding the status of the firstlight power grid and how we might stop it from failing. Lunathion’s engineers have been meeting with the Ocean Queen to learn how she powers her ships without it and will present those findings to us. But in the meantime, we need to start assessing allies inside the city and out of it. Celestina’s still dealing with Ephraim, trying to garner his support, but the other Archangels are going to start jockeying for power. If we don’t want to fall back into the old ways, we need a solid plan.”
“Shouldn’t Athalar be here for this?” Flynn said.
“He’s on his way,” Ruhn said. “With Bryce. But they told us to start without them.”
Dec and Flynn made kissing noises at each other, and Ithan laughed, Perry joining him.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Not the being Prime part, that part he didn’t particularly like, but this new future. It’d probably be batshit crazy for a while, and they’d have no shortage of enemies, but …
They’d also have each other. A pack. Of all Houses.
Which was why they were here. No more splintered Aux, divided among Houses and species. They’d lead by example. Starting today.
So Ithan said to Lidia and Ruhn, to Flynn and Dec and Perry, “Whatever these assholes want to throw at us, we’ll throw right back at them.”
“Spoken like a true sunball captain,” Dec teased.
Ithan said, “Yeah.” He let the word settle, and for a moment he felt it—that urge to set foot on the field, to grip that ball in his hands. A glimmer, and it was gone, but … after years of nothing, he felt it. Wanted it. So Ithan grinned and added, “I am.”
* * *
“That was Hypaxia on the phone,” Bryce said in the sunny, open atrium of the elegant town house that would soon be the new Griffin Antiquities.
Hunt, unpacking a statue of Thurr from a crate, asked over a winged shoulder, “What’d she say?”
