Page 73 of Shadow Fall: Part Two

“Let’s get these home.” I nodded to the wings, carefully bundled up.

“You never have to come here again,” Haley promised me, leaning into my side when I wound an arm around her waist, guiding her back to the door.

Her words echoed through my soul, taking a weight off my shoulder.

I never had to come back here, never had to see the place I’d first been created. That chapter of my life was closed, and I would never revisit it.

It made no sense for Haley to love someone like me, for her to see good despite all the awful things I’d done, but it was a gift I’d never stop being thankful for.

As we headed back into the tunnel, my light bouncing off its curved walls, I sighed.

“Actually, we need to make a detour.”

I’d been given redemption, a second chance, a life that had saved me so many times, which remade me into a better person.

Turned out I was good and kind after all.

I sighed and went back for Andryas Revairs.

HALWEN

“Behold!” I proclaimed, sweeping a hand at the three-storey, red-brick pub I’d spent the past few months buying, renovating, and making perfect—with the help of all my best girlfriends, of course. And Bernard. Turned out the big, grumpy guy loved interior decorating. He even gave us a few pot plants for inside and a topiary of an eagle for the yard.

The pub was my pride and joy. We’d even cleaned up the windows, so the coloured glass sparkled, the windowsills each had flower boxes, and there was a brand new sign that got hung yesterday, the piece de resistance.

“Do you love it?” I gushed, looking at my mates with hearts in my eyes, lingering on Wane who had a decidedly wicked grin on his face, his wings fluttering in the wind as he looked at the sign. It had a very proud, brightly coloured cockerel and a swath of shadows wrapped around it.

“The Cock and Shadows.”

“Cock is for cockerel, if anyone asks. But we all know what it means.” I gave my shadow mate a wink, and he laughed, almost shy as he glanced away.

“I love it,” he said.

“This is ours?” Kai demanded, his mouth parted and crimson eyes wide. “Holy shit.”

“No bar fights!” Em and I said at once, then shared a secret smile.

“Wait until you see the inside,” I said, excitement quickening my heartbeat. When we walked inside, no one pointed out that my obsession with getting a new house that was safe and unconnected to any threats we’d ever been hunted by was, very clearly, nesting. I was six months pregnant now and damn wasn’t my spine aware of it.

Harvey let out a low whistle, catching me around the waist. “She’s beautiful.”

“Aw, thanks.” I batted my lashes at him.

“He clearly meant the pub,” Verena drawled, exploring behind the bar with a bright excitement I hoped we saw more often.

“We’re not calling the pub a she,” Wynvail said with clear judgement at his brother. “That shit’s weird.”

“We’ll call it the Cock,” I decreed, a giddy thrill in my belly. Or maybe that was just the baby. Or indigestion. Hell, it could be all three at the same time. “Do you like it?”

“We love it, Hales,” Em said, softly enough that my eyes began to sting. I sniffled and he stole me from Harvey, pulling me into a hug that was increasingly difficult the further along I was in my pregnancy.4 “It’s perfect.”

“There are five rooms, two bathrooms, and two living rooms. Plus, a kitchen we made even bigger, and a fucking library!”

Emlyn gasped, hugging me tighter. “A library?”

“A library,” I confirmed, leaving out that it was just a regular sized room crammed full of books. That counted.

“So where are the weapons?” Verena asked, pretending to pull a pint. The barrels weren’t hooked up yet, but when we were ready, this place was a fully functioning pub. It’d probably be smart to wait until after we’d figured out how to raise a baby, though. “It’s you, so there’s definitely weapons.”

---