Page 13 of House of Demons and Bones

“I want my Barbie back, and you need to go handle things, Rowan!” Killian shouted from beside us, and Barbie nudged me mentally to wrap it up.

I pulled back an inch, my eyes bright as I gazed at my lover, and he grabbed my hand, glancing at the spot where we’d stepped through, ready to drag me back through the portal. But there was no door. Killian was being petty and calculating, refusing to open the portal until Barbie took control. Barbie could also borrow the chaos prince’s magic and tear open the fabric between worlds, but I couldn’t. No bond with Killian meant no portal privilege.

“You’re a fucking cockblocker, just like Barbie,” Rowan grated.

“Thank you,” Killian said. “My little scorpion’s got some talent.”

“That wasn’t a compliment,” Rowan snapped. “Now I see why you two are true mates—same terrible attitude, same insufferable personality.”

“Feel better getting that off your chest? Good. Can we move on now?” Killian said. “The longer you stay here, the worse it gets out there. We don’t know what’s boiling over now when those heirs are involved. Don’t want to be too late and go back only to pick up the pieces, do you?”

I brushed one last kiss over my prince’s mouth. “See you later, sugar.”

Barbie licked at her lips as if she was the one getting kissed.

“You’ll spend the night with me,” Rowan said.

“Yes,” I promised, leaning into him for another kiss.

This is really taking too fucking long,Barbie bitched.

She yanked me back from my lover before our lips crashed again and surged forward. Dark light flashed in her wake as I tumbled down, and this falling was nothing like falling for my lover. This kind I could do without.

Rowan blinked at Barbie in surprise as she stood in my place, her hands planted on her hips. Killian moved like a flash to put himself between them.

“Sy, you okay?” my prince called.

Warmth bloomed in my chest at his caring and pulsed outward. He blinked again, feeling the wave of my feelings.

Barbie shrugged, already jogging toward the cake table.

“Have Sy meet me when you’re done with your cakes, Barbie!” Rowan said, then turned to Killian. Their truce held, but barely. “What am I supposed to tell the heirs?”

“Just make up something to get them off our backs,” Killian advised.

“I’m not a liar like you,” Rowan said. “The heirs have known me since we were kids. They’ll smell every lie from my mouth. Then the interrogation will never end.”

“Then rage at them. Blame everything on me and stomp out,” Killian instructed. “You can at least manage that, can’t you? Send them my way. I’ll handle it after I smooth my mate’s ruffled feathers.”

Barbie kept her face blank, but her heart still jumped and her pulse raced every time he called her his mate.

The air rippled, and a door appeared at the far end of the rooftop. Rowan strode toward it in his rough farmer’s clothes, abs and calves exposed, his icy beauty undimmed. Halfway there, he looked back at Barbie, catching my gaze as I peeked through her now-golden eyes.

“Little monster,” he said, feet dragging. “As soon as?—”

A wave of darkness and starlight slammed into him mid-sentence, catching him off guard and sweeping him straight into the portal.

“Assho—”

The portal sealed, slicing off his curse at Killian.

Just like that, he was on the other side while I was stuck here in Barbie. My heart clenched and ached. I missed him already, even though he’d barely left.

4

Barbie

It was just Killian and me now.

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