Chapter 29

29

M arch, the next year . . .

"And the Academy Award for best special effects goes to The Prince's Cursed Coin!"

The audience at the Copper Barrel all clapped and whooped. Hell, half of them had appearances in the film. I sat in a booth with Kade next to me cheering. Georgie had been correct. I hadn't made it further than the Houghton before I'd had to turn around and return to the Keweenaw, the ache so fierce in my heart that I felt like I would die.

I didn't really mind. Kade and I were in the process of building a log cabin and we'd be moving in next month. He's just returned from a film shoot last week and I was looking forward to a couple months of domesticity. That domesticity now included two very spoiled horses. We'd purchased both Bruce and Fio, I rode almost every day now. Practiced archery at a local range. Some of the regulars invited me to go bow hunting and look for Old George with them, but even the thought of harming an animal turned my stomach. I'd stick to targets at the range.

"You know, you could be there," I said, as we watched Ali, Rory, Poppy, Jabril, and the special effects team go up on stage to accept the award. "You more than anyone earned it."

He shrugged. "I'm not as interested as I once was, especially when it means you can't be there with me. Funny, how sometimes you think you want one thing but it turns out it wasn't what you needed. And it was a team effort. They'll represent the film just fine without me."

I snuggled closer. I'd worried at first Kade would resent me, but that just hadn't happened. We'd worked it out so when he wanted to take a project, he could.

I'd turned my Only Fae into my own private streaming channel. I'd lost some initial audience since I'd taken down all the jacking off vids, but after The Prince's Cursed Coin broke box office records, I had a lot of subscribers, and I set my tiers really low now that Kade and I didn't need the money. Plus, I just loved talking everything fantasy, but most especially games.

I'd love to say Matt came back from the Keweenaw a better person, but it wasn't true and I'd had to send him a cease and desist letter when he'd tried to steal some of my content and pass it off as his own. But you know, stabbing your ex through the heart was wonderfully healing.

Ali and Rory both looked amazing tonight, though Ali had a badly hidden disgruntled expression. It might be because I'd encouraged Rory to take a hot new actor as his date tonight when Ali had asked Poppy. As much as I was happy to see Rory's career take off, my favorite moment of the show was the red carpet interviews when Ali saw Rory with his very handsome date. You snooze, you lose. I kept telling him, but Ali was stubborn as hell. They'd all be visiting for our house warming so I'd see what trouble I could stir up then. One day Alistair would stop pushing Rory away. Until then, Rory deserved to have a little fun.

Jabril rambled on thanking his team and clearly very drunk, but all smiles tonight. "A special shout out to Teremie and Kade who couldn't be here tonight. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, no kidding," I muttered, and Kade laughed, and gave me a sweet kiss.

Then Jabril held up the Oscar. "And that's a wrap!"

Hey, it's me, the coin. Kade and Teremie needed a lot of help to find their happily-ever-after, but those two? They've got what it takes. And you know what they say? Everyone loves a happy ending . . . which brings me to my next stop: Adam and Nylian. Wowza, what do you do with enemies who have such steamy chemistry? I think we all know the answer to that. See you there . . . .