We’ve been each other’s wingwomen for as long as we can remember.

  I set the bottle down and reach out, taking Temper’s hand. “God, I love you.”

  “Are you drunk? You are such a lightweight.”

  “Seriously, Temper?” That’s her response to me pledging my love to her? “You ingrate. I’m not drunk.”

  She squeezes my hand. “I love you too, Callie, even if you go to earth and do body shots without me.”

  “Hey, I invited you to the wedding.”

  “Only because you needed an ordained minister.”

  She and I both know that’s not the only reason.

  “How did you even manage to get ordained?” If anyone should’ve been rejected, it probably should have been Temper. I mean, I love my friend, but she’s not exactly a saint.

  “Fuck if I know—the internet is a magical thing.”

  The two of us look at each other and burst into laughter.

  It’s Temper’s turn to grab the wine bottle and throw it back. “You know, for all the battles being fought in the Otherworld, I’ve had hardly any chances to zap someone.”

  My mood darkens as my thoughts return to the Thief. “I’m sure your day will come.”

  “Oh, I know it will. That’s why I’ve been hanging around this place. I love a good fight.”

  I give her a look.

  “What?” Temper says defensively.

  “You are such a liar,” I say. “You’re not here for some fight. You’re not even here because I am, though I know you love me. You’re here because you like shacking up with Malaki.”

  For a moment, Temper doesn’t respond, gathering her thoughts.

  “I’m here because I want a fight,” she finally says, “and my best friend happens to be a queen. Malaki is a perk of the situation.”

  Yeah, I’m not buying it.

  “I’m going to hex that look off your face.”

  “I’ll stop you first,” I say, my skin brightening.

  “Nice try,” Temper says. “Your glamour no longer works on humans.” She sounds so certain of that fact, like she knows the effects of the lilac wine better than I do.

  “Does it now?” I say, letting my magic fill my voice.

  Temper’s gaze briefly goes hazy before it clears.

  “Oh, you smug siren,” she says, starting to chuckle. She takes another drink of the wine, shaking her head. “You can glamour humans and fairies?”

  I lift a shoulder. “Seems that way.”

  Only the Thief appears to be immune to my charms, which is unfortunate, considering he’s the one I’ll probably need to use them on.

  “Lady, you better watch your back,” I say. “Malaki gets that possessive look when he sees you.” And he’s annoyingly bossy, I’ve come to find.

  Temper fans herself. “I know, isn’t it fucking hot?”

  Uh, that’s one way of looking at it.

  “Temper, he’s Des’s best friend. If you break his heart, shit is going to get awkward.” I mean, I got a taste of Malaki when he’s peeved; forgive me if I don’t want to see what he’s like when he’s heartbroken.

  “Who said anything about me breaking his heart? I’m more interested in breaking his bed.”

  She’s not considering breaking up with him? This far into a fling, Temper is always considering breaking things off.

  I turn to give her my full attention. “What is going on between you two?”

  She waggles her eyebrows. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  I laugh. “Oh my God, don’t hold out on me now.”

  “You don’t want me to hold out on you? You’re the one who’s more secretive than your husband lately—and ugh, can we talk about the fact you’re married now? You’re all domestic and old.”

  “I’m not old. And stop changing the subject,” I say. Gah, she’s hard to pin down when she wants to be.

  “How about we talk about the fact the Thief of Souls wants to bone you?”

  “Let’s not.” I feel a shudder coming on.

  “I mean, you could just give in and knock boots with the baddie.”

  “Temper.” Seriously?

  “Yeah, you’re right,” she says. “That’s too evil.”

  “Also, I’m married—and mated—and in love,” I say slowly. “Let’s not forget that either.”

  “Right, right, right.” She takes another swig of the fae wine. A laugh slips out of her, and that’s about when I realize she’s teasing me.

  I release my breath. “You’re the worst.”

  “Suck it, Lillis. I’m the best and everyone knows it.”

  The air wavers in front of us, and then Des is there, an eyebrow raised as he stares down at us. “So this is why there’s a pastry shortage in the kitchen.”

  I inconspicuously dust crumbs off my chest. Temper, meanwhile, licks her fingers.

  “It’s not my fault your kitchen’s understocked,” she says tartly.

  Des’s eyes flick to her. “Malaki is looking for you.”

  “Is he now?” Temper says, her interest piqued. She gets up, grabbing the tray of pastries, the bottle of wine still in her clutches. “Then I better go find him… See ya, Callie.” She salutes me with the bottle of wine then heads off down the hall, her heels clicking.

  Des turns his attention to me. “Wife.” His eyes are burning. “We have some unfinished business.”

  Chapter 30

  “This is not how I expected to spend the day after my wedding.” The two of us walk through the castle’s halls. I assume we’re heading back to Des’s chambers to, you know, finish business, but the Bargainer leads me past the halls that wind toward his suite.

  “I think that’s the point,” Des says. “I doubt the Thief wants us to enjoy our time together.”

  Was that the Thief’s entire reason behind that show at the gates? He told me in a dream before that he wanted me to enjoy my time with Des. So it doesn’t make sense.

  “Where were you this morning?” I ask.

  “About.”

  Ugh, why can’t fairies ever be straightforward?

  “Your guards couldn’t find you. Were you even in the palace?”

  Des disappears, only to reappear a few feet away at the end of the hallway. He hooks his hands on the archway above him and leans forward, blocking my way.

  “Cherub, it’s precious that you should be peeved at me when you were the one daring the Thief to break my wards and snatch you away.”

  Even as he speaks, shadows thicken and coil at his feet. He sounds casual enough, but this is obviously a sore spot.

  “Nuh-uh. That’s not how this works. You don’t get to be mad at me for how I handled the situation when you left me to do it alone,” I say.

  Not entirely true—he was there to witness me playing chicken with a psychopathic monster—but he wasn’t there when the news reached me and Malaki.

  He drops his hands and vanishes again before reappearing directly in front of me. Stepping in close, he says, “You’re right.” The shadows around him clear. “You were a queen this morning. I saw it, my people saw it, and the Thief saw it.”

  Of course, he brings this back to me being a queen.

  “I also heard you outfoxed Malaki.” Des’s eyes practically dance at the thought.

  “He wanted to hide me away like some fainting maiden.”

  “The audacity,” he says.

  Des takes my hand and, backing up, leads me forward again. “I forgive you for your reckless endangerment this morning—”

  I raise my eyebrows. “You are unbelievable.”

  “—just as I’m sure you forgive me for abandoning you during such a situation.”

  I guffaw.

  Abruptly, Des stops us in front of a bronze door, the top of it coming to a curved point.

  I’ve been so invested in our conversation that I haven’t paid attention to where the Bargainer has been leading us.

  “Where are we?” I ask, eyeing the door in front of me.

  Des is giving me a look, his eyes sparking. I’d say he’s either particularly dangerous right now or particularly lusty—he tends to wear the same expression for both emotions. “Open the door.”

  I stare at him for several seconds, my brows furrowing, then grab the handle and swing the door open.

  Inside, warm lamps hang from the ceiling. The far wall is nothing more than open archways. Resting half inside and half outside the columned archway is an infinity pool, filled to the brim with Lephys’s glowing water. It snakes through the low-lit chambers before curving out of sight. I’m not entirely sure, but I think it might bisect every one of this suite’s rooms.

  Beyond the pool, Somnia is laid out before me, the lights of the city glittering amber and blue and pale green in the night.

  I don’t think I breathe as I take it all in. I’m used to the beauty of the Otherworld, but this truly feels magical.

  “You’ve been holding out on me, Flynn,” I say, walking deeper into the room, my gaze moving back to the pool.

  I had no idea there even was a place like this in his palace.

  “Do you like your wedding gift?” he asks from behind me.

  “Wedding gift?” I turn to face him.

  Des’s silver eyes gleam.

  I glance around again. “Wait, are these…?”

  “Our new rooms.”

  He slides his hands into his pockets, stepping up next to me to survey the chambers. “It’s no ocean—I’m afraid there are limits on what I can do—but I figured my wife needed a place for her siren to unwind.”

  Our new rooms. I’m still stuck on that. He did this all for me—for us.

  The gauzy curtains blow in from the windows, the wind carrying in the evening scents. I run my hand over a column inlaid with blue tiles.

  “I love it,” I breathe.

  “I’m glad.”

  When I glance back at Des, he wears a small smile on his face, his eyes soft.

  Genuine happiness looks good on him.

  I wander through the suite, taking in the opulent bathroom, with its iridescent turquoise tile and bronze fastenings—each detail harkening to the sea in some way. Around me, the walls of the bathroom are covered in slate-gray rock, and the sunken tub is made of the same dark stone.

  “I couldn’t help myself,” Des admits, following my gaze. “After all this time, I miss the caves I grew up in.”

  Now that I look for it, I see it—the bathroom is some fusion between the ocean I love and the caverns Des misses.

  “It’s perfect.”

  I leave the bathroom and walk into our bedroom. The chamber sits under the light of dozens of lamps, their flames sparking like fireworks. The headboard of the bed is the same worked bronze as in Des’s other chambers, but someone’s gone to the trouble of hammering out an image of crashing waves under a star-strewn sky.

  There are a thousand other details to this suite that will surely take me days to fully notice and appreciate.

  I turn to face Des. “You planned all this?”

  He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t need to—it’s all in his eyes. Des must’ve spent ages putting this chamber together. I rub my chest. My heart hurts so damn much.

  I shake my head. “Thank you.”

  Des disappears before manifesting at my side. He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s nothing,” he says, his voice a little rough.

  I lean into his touch, giving him a small smile. My gaze sweeps over the rooms again, and again, my eyes catch on that pool.

  Really want to get in.

  Before I can so much as voice those words, my clothes slip off, leaving behind a strappy bathing suit.

  I touch the soft material. “How do you do that?” But it’s not really a question, and I don’t expect an answer. Des has always had his ways.

  “Magic, love,” he says, answering me anyway.

  I back up from him. The Night King watches me with his gleaming eyes, and I feel that gaze everywhere.

  “If I get in the pool, will you join me?” I ask.

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Do you really want one?”

  His eyes narrow, even as delight touches his features. “Answering questions with questions. You are shaping up to be an excellent fairy, Callie.”

  I turn to the pool to hide my grin and slowly lower myself in. The water is cool against my skin, and my siren yearns for more.

  I sink farther and farther into the glowing liquid until I’m fully submerged.

  Des is right—it’s not the tumultuous ocean. There are no sailors to call down to their deaths, no promise of violence. But there’s peace here, beneath the surface. And what’s more, I think as the water shifts and Des joins me, there’s sex.

  I rise slowly from the lapping waves, my eyes meeting the Bargainer’s. He stands in the water, the glow of it illuminating all the hard planes of his bare torso. His sleeve of tattoos is on display, and his hair is tied back in a bun.

  He is, in a word, overwhelming.

  Slowly, I move over to him. As I do so, I slip one of my swimsuit straps over my shoulder and down my arm, then the other. The rest of it is quick to go. The swimsuit was a nice thought, but right now it’s useless to me.

  Des watches me with those silver eyes of his. When I reach him, I pause, staring up.

  “I could never imagine this,” I say. “Not in my wildest dreams could I imagine what life with you would be like.”

  He cups the side of my face, his gaze moving to my lips. “It gets to be like this; for the rest of our lives, we get to have this: the sweet moments, the confessions, the laughter, the magic—we get to have it all.” His thumb strokes my cheek. “Cherub, you’re every wish of mine.”

  Lowering my eyelids, I rise to my tiptoes and kiss him deeply, fiercely. After reaching for his bun, I loosen his hair, letting it fall around his face in waves. This is where I make some comment about his silly man bun, and he has some quip that keeps me on my toes.

  But my humor’s abandoned me. All I want is Des, and I’m pretty sure all he wants is me.

  His arms come around my waist, and then he’s wrapping my legs around his hips. If Des was wearing a swimsuit, it’s long gone now. I feel every glorious inch of him bare against me.

  I run my palms over his biceps, his tattoos catching my attention. There’s that somber angel and the rose. I touch them with my fingertips. That’s when I notice for the first time the ribbon of inked black beads coiling up his arm.

  My fingers pause. “Is this new?”

  His eyes seem to be smiling. “I wanted to wear a piece of you on me always.”

  I trace the string of beads to his wrist, then back up his arm to his shoulder…where they morph into inked scales. Those, in turn, transition into black feathers. The tiny inked feathers drip from his shoulder and onto his pec, a few breaking away to flutter right over his heart.

  I pull my head back. “When—?”

  “Last night, when I was supposed to be defending my kingdom.”

  So that’s what he was doing away from the castle. My heart hurts with all I feel.

  I study the tattoo again. The beads, the scales, the feathers—those things were once burdens to me.

  I wanted to wear a piece of you on me always.

  My throat closes. These rooms were already too much. To hear that he inked these parts of me onto himself…

  He must see my throat working, must know I literally don’t have the words to convey this unimaginable tangle of emotions I feel.

  I’m just so unbearably, unspeakably happy.

  “I love you, cherub,” he says. “Till darkness dies, I will.”

  I rise a little, my body skimming over his hard torso. Between us, our bond throbs like a single united heartbeat. I cup his cheeks and press my mouth to his.

  Like moonbeams and shadows. That’s how he tastes, how he feels. As though the dark universe itself came together one day and decided to form a man. He still doesn’t seem real. I hope he never does. He’s my magic.

  Des lowers me, or maybe I’m the one to sink back. My skin brightens as the tip of his cock presses against my opening for a moment, feeling thick, much too thick. And then it’s sliding into me, and that exquisite thickness is stretching me, filling me.

  I stare into Des’s eyes, and I see an eternity stretched out in them. Years and years of nights like this, love like this.

  He pulls his hips back, and I feel the loss everywhere. But in the next instant, he’s sliding back into me, his cock throbbing.

  “Love you so much, Callie,” he breathes. “Would’ve waited an eternity if it meant finding you.”

  I lean my head against him, feeling him wedged deeply in me. “I would’ve walked through hell to find you,” I whisper back.

  He shudders out a breath. “You did, cherub. You did.”

  I don’t know which experience he’s referring to, and I don’t really care. None of that horror gets to be a part of this moment.

  I run my fingers through his white hair, the strands seeming to glow thanks to the water wetting it.

  The two of us move up and down, in and out, pulling away and rushing in like the tides. We’re balanced on the edge of Somnia, with the stars above and the world below.

  Sometimes sex is dirty and carnal, and sometimes, like now, it’s love at its most intimate.

  My breasts slide over his chest as I rise and fall, the glowing water making our skin slick.

  Then my breath hitches as Des’s pace picks up and his strokes deepen. The whole time the two of us stare at each other. I don’t know about Des, but I have the most breathtaking view. Planets have spun and stars have aligned to bring us together.

  “Every wish…” Des rasps out, taking my mouth.

  The taste and the feel of him—those are the triggers that send me over the edge. I cry out into his mouth, my grip tightening on Des as my orgasm crashes through me.