Page 126 of Fae Reckoning

I bit my lip and smiled around it. “Well. I do have some fine ideas, since you asked. How ’bout you?—”

A loudthwakhad Rush and I jackknifing to sitting, our heads whipping toward the open door while water sloshed onto the floor. My heart thundered.What now, for fuck’s sake? I thought the nightmare was over!

I didn’t make a sound, nor did Rush. Quietly, he snatched our blades from beside the tub where we’d left them within easy reach. He handed me mine.

Light footfalls sped toward us.

We got our feet under us, preparing to leap from the tub.

“Rush,” West’s voice called out. “You here?”

Before Rush could answer, West bounded through the door to the bathroom. His stare alighted on us and our nudity for a quick second before he loped from the threshold, didn’t slow, and freakingjumped into the tub with us, splashing water everywhere.

“What the fuck, bro?” Rush exclaimed while he dragged me out of the way of his insane friend.

West’s extra short hair was unevenly cut—thanks to the knife he’d used for the job, no doubt—standing on end in differing heights. He was covered in all the blood and grime Rush and I’d just finished scrubbing off. With his fucking boots and breeches and weapons belt and all on, hedancedin the water.

Westdanced.

He broke into a grin so wide and so bright it rivaled the sun as it crested the horizon.

“What is it?” Rush and I demanded.

Carefree in a way I’d never seen him before, not even after discovering Ramana alive, West wagged his hips and pumped his arms, which were weapon free.

Rush placed his dagger on the side of the tub. I didn’t yet release mine.

“Everyone who went into the mirrors,” West said. “They’re back. They’re fuckingback.”

Rush stiffened all over, his dick at half mast, while he stared at his brother with wide, glowing eyes. His tattoos pulsed, the vines crawling all along his naked form.

“Ry and Hiro?” he barely breathed.

West stopped dancing to meet Rush’s stare. “They.Are.Back.” Then he splashed water up in the air as if he were a playful dragonling.

Water droplets raining down on us, Rush and I scrambled out of the tub, dragged on the nearest clothes—which happened to be our disgusting, discarded fighting leathers—without bothering to dry off, the wompa leather squeaking along our damp skin. Dripping wet and barefooted—but with a knife each and clutching our boots—we were running from my rooms and down the hall in moments, West right alongside us, skipping as we went.

39.THERE ARE NO MORE MONSTERS COMING FOR US

ELOWYN

With West and me fast in the wake of his pounding bare feet, Rush barreled through the gaping hole that had been the grand double doors that gained entrance to the Hall of Mirrors. We’d had to knock out the wall—and many others along the way—so the dragons could exit the palace proper. They now rested in several cozy piles out in the gardens, crushing the manicured flowerbeds beneath their massive frames, waiting until we could figure out how to rescue any dragons that remained in the dungeons.

Although already industrious goblins had made progress in repairing the broken floor, and most of Talisa’s trapped snakes had been quick to leave, upturned glass still projected from it far too often. Hopping on one foot while his weapons belt rattled—only partially buckled around his hips in his haste—Rush stuffed his feet into his boots. After a backward glance at me to make sure I was doing the same, heraced through the hall, dodging bodies and startling the fae fussing over them.

When Rush and I’d finally succumbed to fatigue and shuffled away with laden steps for a little rest, a dull murmur had shrouded the space. Everyone had been as tired as we were, stunned by the gravity of our losses and our wins. But now an excited buzz enlivened the room; a joyful cry rose from one of the gathered groups. I heard crying too, but at least there was some celebration mixed in with the mourning.

Halfway through, Rush halted, sweeping those gathered, their diverse shapes, sizes, and colors. I knew he must be searching for Hiroshi’s particular lavender hair.

“They’re in the back corner,” West said as he piled up behind Rush. “By the tunnel entrance.”

Rush was already speeding forward again. He nearly bumped into a large rabbit with fangs that resembled tusks with their menacing length, spun as the creature snapped at him, and darted through an aisle opening up among the fae who’d realized something was happening.

I noticed them when Rush did. And truly, there they were: Hiroshi and Ryder, whole and in one piece each.

They were in the process of turning to see what the commotion was when Rush slammed into them, his wide arms engulfing them both at once, nearly knocking them over?—

A body dove onto my back, stunning the air fromme in a garbledooosh. Its knobby joints prodded me in the ribs and shoulders; its scrabbling feet poked my waist.

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