Page 80 of Land of Monsters

“That’s not what you were saying last night.”

I opened one lid, peering at the figure standing on Raven’s hip, his arms crossed.

Another moan sank my head deeper into the pillow. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

“Don’t you like it?” Opie’s expression filled with hope. Just one critical word would make him cry.

“Um… sure.”

Dice from the gambling tables dangled on a fringe around his waist, barely covering him. Gold silk draped off him in a cape, and pleasure beads wrapped around his beard, connecting to the clip-on nipple rings he wore on his chest.

“What do you expect?” he exclaimed. “You drag us to these places, which have nothing for me to work with. I do the best I can.”

Chirp!

My eyes dragged to the imp, climbing up next to Opie. Bitzy wore a gold silk diaper, nipple rings in her giant bat-like ears, and pleasure beads around her neck.

“Right.” Opie nodded. “You still owe us, Mushroom Man. I get a whole section of the Byzantine era to make into a work of art. And Bitzy wants a dozen mushrooms.”

I exhaled with irritation, though I couldn’t find it in me to be. My system was still blissed out and buzzing with energy, my dick sore, but in the way it wanted to be inside her again.

Fear hovered on the edges, knowing reality was ahead of us once we stepped out of this bubble. What I pushed her to do last night scared me to face in the light of day. The connection I doubled down on. I wanted to pretend it was some strange dream. Not something plausible that could happen between us, though I had seen my friends fall to their significant others in the same way.

Tree fairies did not mate. Period. The end.

“Look at you.” Opie’s bushy eyebrows went up and down. “The smitten kitten.”

“Don’t ever call me that again.”

Chirp!

“Oh yeah… you guys need to stop leaving your mark everywhere you go. It’s like a calling card.”

“What are you talking about?” I lifted my head.

“The trees outside.” Opie motioned over his shoulder to the window. “You did the same at the last place.”

“What?” I flicked the back covers, climbing out of bed.

“Whoa, whoa! Warn a brownie before you swing your wild mushroom about!” Opie ducked. “You could hurt someone with it… like hurt in thedo it againway.”

Chirp!

“I wasn’t implying I wanted to be that someone!”

Ignoring them, I traveled to the window, pushing the thin curtain to the side. The hazy sun barely broke through the clouds, fresh snow covering the ground and sill, but my attention caught on something else.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

The trees planted along the pavement were all bent into each other, their limbs tangled and tied together.

A lump formed in the back of my throat, and I struggled to swallow, knowing we did this. It came from the magic Raven and I produced—we hadknottedthem together.

Like we were.

Chapter 16

Raven

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