Gena Showalter - Burning Dawn

Footsteps echoed beyond the hallway, getting closer by the second.

Then Bellorie was racing around a corner and barreling toward her. Elin let go of Thane to meet her in the middle. They hugged and they cried, and all the while she felt her man’s gaze on her back, watching over her.

He’s got it bad for me.

Thank the Most High, because I’ve got it bad for him.

She had to nut up and tell him how she felt about him—that was all there was to it. I love you, Thane. With every ounce of my being. Boom. Done. Just like that. The feeling was all-consuming, disconcerting. And yet, somehow empowering. Being with him didn’t take away from her relationship with Bay. Being with him reminded her that happy endings were possible. That she never again had to be alone, or an outcast. Thane accepted her for all that she was. He adored her. And he needed her.

Bay, sweet boy that he’d been, had never needed her. They had been two wholes coexisting alongside each other rather than two halves that made up a whole, each necessary for the other’s survival.

Thane...she couldn’t breathe without.

“You’re the last to arrive, Bonka Donk,” Bellorie said with a sniffle. “We were worried about you when we clearly shouldn’t have been, because, girl, you are glowing like a night-light with Mr. Taken One’s essentia. Far brighter than before...which makes me wonder what the two of you have been doing.”

She blushed. Not because she was embarrassed for being Thane’s woman—she was beyond proud—but because everyone would know what they’d been doing together. Like they didn’t already know. FYI, your satisfied smile is a dead giveaway, too.

“So, anyway, we’re holding a ladies-only memorial outside.” Bellorie peeked over Elin’s shoulder. “Thane, every henhouse could use a cock. Want to be ours?”

Don’t laugh. Elin glanced back at him. He gave her a soft smile and waved her on. “Go without me. I need to confer with the other—men.”

Elin blew him a kiss.

He caught it in the air and said, “I’ll miss you.”

The fact that he could utter those words in front of an audience, and not care, melted her. “I’ll miss you, too.” So freaking bad.

“Gag,” Bellorie said, pulling Elin along. “Be mushy on your own time.”

As quickly as the girl dragged her, Elin had no chance to admire the castle and its interior—every piece of furniture had to have been built by unicorns while living inside a rainbow, because, wow. Talk about magical!

The backyard had a large garden teeming with sweet-smelling flowers and lush green vines, everything shrouded by a thin, glittering veil of mist—and were those fairies buzzing about?

Not full-grown Fae, like Chanel, but small, about the size of her index finger, and—

Chanel.

Threads of remorse wove a tapestry inside her. A tapestry of memories. Chanel’s bright smile. Her adorable giggle. Her killer instinct on the field of boulder battle.

Octavia and Savy each held a bottle of clear liquid. It had to be the most potent alcohol of all time, judging by the smell of it. Bellorie grabbed the two bottles waiting at their feet and handed one to Elin.

“To effing Chanel!”

Everyone raised a bottle before taking a swig.

Elin coughed and choked the burning flames down. “What is this crap? Moonshine?”

“Better,” Octavia said. “Moonshine from Tartarus. You know, the prison for immortals. I’ve got a friend on the inside. Well, the part still standing, that is.”

So. She was drinking alcohol that had been mixed in some immortal’s toilet. Awesome.

“I keep expecting Chanel to pop out and say ‘gotcha, I’m still alive, suckas,’” Savy admitted.

“Wouldn’t that be just like the little hooker? Make us mourn and cry and talk about her, just for grins and giggles.” Smiling, Bellorie scanned the yard. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

They waited.

When Chanel failed to appear, Bellorie’s smile faded. “The world won’t be the same without her.”

“No. It won’t.” This was nice. Elin had never had this before. Camaraderie after a loss. After the deaths of her husband and father, she had been a slave, and emotional outbursts had not been tolerated. Sobbing into her thin blanket at night had been her only solace. With her mother and newborn brother, same deal. “I’ll never forget her smart mouth. I like to think she gave some of that sass to me.”

“Hear, hear,” Bellorie said, and again raised her bottle. She drained half the contents. “I know she wouldn’t want a sober person at her memorial. She was sweet like that.”

“For you, Alcoballic.” Elin drank. Thankfully, the more she drank, the smoother the liquid went down.

Within the hour, everyone was laughing and sharing their favorite stories about the girl. Elin almost peed her pants when Savy told hers, talking casually about Chanel tripping and landing face-first in some random immortal’s lap. He’d just smiled, patted her on top of her head, and told her that his balls needed a moment to recover before she attempted another blow job.

They spent the next half hour guessing his identity, and Elin was just certain she was right. Alex Pettyfer. He had to be some type of immortal, right?

Speaking of eye candy, she wondered where Thane was, what he was doing.

Probably still with his boys, she decided, planning his—their—war. I’m in this with him. All the way. Though she had no idea what to do about the prince, she had an idea about Ardeo.

If you want a man’s attention, her mother once said, find out what he loves most...and take it away. Guaranteed, he’ll dog your every step from that moment on.

Ardeo wanted Malta. It would be cruel to pretend the woman had somehow regenerated and was now in their clutches, but he’d written the rules of this war when he stabbed Thane, and those rules were quite simple: anything goes.

One mention of Malta’s name, and he would come running...straight into a trap.

“—even listening?” Bellorie asked, and she blinked into focus. “She’s got it bad, ya’ll. Love has done gone and fried her brain.”

It had. It really had. “What’d I miss?”

“The best story ever about how I’m going to march into the realm of the Fae and decapitate everyone I come across! Chanel would have wanted her entire race slaughtered for kicking her out. I just know it.”

Savy shook her head and made a cutting motion over her throat.

“Why did they kick her out, anyway?” Elin asked.

Savy groaned.

“For being too wonderful,” Bellorie said, ignoring her. “But back to my war plans. I’ll wear black spandex, of course, like a true ninja, and—”

Octavia waved her fists in the air and shouted, “Why me?”

Elin covered a giggle with the back of her hand, then sat back and listened to Bellorie wax on and on about the clothes she would wear, the weapons she would use, and the history books that would need to be written about her exploits.

Never would Elin have guessed that she’d find herself in such a situation. Sorrowful but comforting. Sad but sweet. This wasn’t the life she’d once envisioned for herself, but dang if it wasn’t better.

THANE EXITED THE BATHROOM with a towel wrapped around his waist. He and the boys had decided on a plan of action, to be carried out later today. Find Ardeo. Track him. Follow him to the prince. Perhaps the two would set up a meeting so the prince could reward Ardeo for stabbing Thane. If not, Ardeo would find a way to reach the prince. The Phoenix king believed the fallen angel could bring Malta back to life; he wouldn’t rest until he was proved wrong.