Page 55 of Fallen Heirs

“Apparently not.”

“So he’s not with us now?”

“Not on this.”

“And you’re not either?”

“You need time to come down from what happened with those vampires, then we can revisit it.”

“Really? You’d do that?”

“As long as you swear to me you won’t employ something as fucked-up as necromancy again.”

“What if I need to in a defensive capacity?”

“Fine. As a last resort, but not offensively, or as a form of torture.”

“Agreed.”

I saw X reach out then and cup her face.

“I love you and I’m only telling you this in the name of that, all right? I want the best for you. I want you happy and safe.”

“I know and I love you for it. I’m sorry I got out of control with them. Have you thought about what they promised you?”

“Yeah. It was obviously a ruse. Constantine wanted my magic for something and he’ll clearly say anything to get it. It’s just false hope. Besides… I’m okay with being the way I am now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ve made my peace with it in a way I haven’t been able to before. Doing all this hunting with you, calling on my vampiric skills and abilities so much in a positive way… it’s really helped. But you already figured that, didn’t you? It’s the other reason you asked me to do this with you?”

“You got me. I thought it might help you, yes.”

“Well, you were correct. Thank you, beautiful.”

They finally took their seats at the picnic table on the same side of the bench beside one another and they began pulling their lunches out of their bags. It looked like they’d both just picked up sandwiches this time.

With that note I’d actually forgotten to get mine from the cafeteria.

Fortunately, I did have a peach in my bag for when I got extra hungry, so I pulled it out and walked on over there to join them.

“Hey,” I said casually, sitting down opposite them. “How’s it going?”

“Hey, Talon,” Alena greeted me, reaching across the table and stroking my hand.

“Okay morning so far,” X told me. “Just getting back into the swing of things. You?”

“Great. I got my first ever A.”

“What? Really?” X asked.

I nodded proudly.

“Congratulations!” Alena cried excitedly.

“Well fucking done,” X said, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

“Thanks.” I took a bite of my peach.

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