Epilogue

That night, Dare, Thorne, Kaelan, Jaia and Azora and I gathered to plot our next steps.

We’d moved to a private house. We had to keep moving, because we knew Edric would be looking for us. And so would the Snake Queen, sooner or later.

But with my men by my side, and the women who were beginning to feel like my best friends, I felt ready for them.

Finnias slept in my lap during dinner. I pointed that fact out to Kaelan, quite smugly, who raised his eyebrows. “It’s because you look like an easy mark. I bet you’d let him eat off your plate.”

“I guess I am an easy mark,” I said coolly. “Because I’m still with you.”

“Ooh!” Jaia said, sounding delighted as she passed a bowl of warm, fragrant rolls to Azora. She was always looking out for Azora. “Kaelan met his match.”

“Are you an actual child?” Dare leaned back in his chair, one arm slung over the chairback, looking as low-key annoyed by us as he always did.

Kaelan leaned over, his big hand falling on my thigh, and pressed a kiss to my lips. I smiled against his mouth, amused by him, until his other hand twined through my hair and held my face to his. Then, as he teasing the tip of his tongue against the seam of my lips, I gave it and welcomed him in, my lips parting. The two of us traded a long, slow kiss while the rest of the day reacted by pounding the table, laughing, or making disgusted noises.

Kaelan sat back, looking distinctly pleased with himself, though his eyes were also filled with desire.

“Rude,” Thorne said, and he put his hand under my chin and tilted my head back to him so he could press a tender kiss to my forehead.

I could feel the attention and tension shift around the table. They had ideas, but we hadn’t said anything yet.

“Let’s toast,” Thorne said, drawing me into his lap. I perched on his knee, his arm around my waist. Somehow it felt so right.

Kaelan handed me a glass and he was the first to clink it with his own as he did, giving me a wink. It made me grin. I felt giddy and light and happy for once.

“To what, exactly, are we toasting?” Dare demanded.

“To me not being a completely selfish bastard, I imagine,” Kaelan noted over the brim of his glass.

I laughed. “You’re perfect, Kae. Just the way you are.”

Dare glanced at Azora and mouthed, “Already drunk.”

She hid her answering smile, a heartbeat too late.

“Let’s toast to love,” Thorne said. “In its many strange forms.”

“In its invincibility,” I added, given everything we had just been through.

Kaelan snorted. “How about to its inevitability, however we may feel?”

He cast a quick glance at Dare. I thought I was the only one who had seen.

“To love,” Jaia echoed, though her gaze was on Azora.

We took turns clinking our glasses together.

The night was exactly what we needed after the harrowing days we’d experienced lately.

At the end of the night, Dare and I were the last ones out of the dining room. Kaelan and Thorne obviously had plans for me, but I wanted a moment with Dare.

Dare said to me, “Good night, Hanna.”

“Good night,” I answered. There was something about his tone that felt both affectionate and final. “Dare…”

He turned back in the door and offered me a smile that reminded me of the false smiles I sometimes offered other people. “Kaelan and Thorne are waiting for you.”

Then he was gone.

And in the morning… we couldn’t find him anywhere.