Page 36 of Forgotten Monsters
Who would have imagined I would be so glad to find Flynn Verinos unchanged, about to fleece a poor bloke from his money—and dignity.
Our gazes lock over the pile of coins, and his ocean-blue eyes widen. The bustle of the waiters, the rhythmic taps of the cards against the tables, everything dies down to a mere whisper.
My chest expands and contracts.
Flynn flies off his seat, and his chair topples over. He swallows one last swig of beer and dumps his mug on an empty table as he weaves his way through the crowd, his eyes never leaving mine, full of questions and doubts.
The dagger strapped to his side catches the light, but he doesn’t reach for his weapon. Instead, he plants both hands around my face and pulls me in for a kiss.
His tongue asks questions mine can’t answer. The soft, sensual brushes rip away my armor, one delicious lick at a time, and by the time he draws back, I’m shaking.
The blue depths of his eyes shine with tears. “It’s really you.”
A small breath whizzes out of my lungs. “Even Cole couldn’t tell that fast.”
“Cole has a giant sword stuck up his ass. He couldn’t tell someone who loves him from a rock.”
A low, teary giggle escapes me.
Flynn captures my hand in his, and the pressure of his grasp cuts the blood supply to my fingers, but I don’t mind. “Come with me, witch. You have a lot to explain.”
A bittersweet ache pulses in my throat. As happy as I am for this reunion to be more “let’s catch up” and less “bondage,” I’m…disappointed. It’s unfair, but I wish Cole had acted the same way, and Flynn’s positive response only solidifies all the rotten ways Cole treated me. His warm welcome highlights the flaws in my husband better than a troll holds a club.
He ushers me to a private table tucked in the corner. I scoot close to him in the half-crescent booth, unable to let go. “What happened between you two?”
“Let’s drink.” He orders a pitcher of beer.
I tug on his hand. “Flynn!”
“Let’s not talk about him. Let’s talk about you. Are you this young and beautiful because of your newfound immortality, or did the Underworld swallow you whole and spit you back out in a different timeline?”
I grin at the stupid compliment, but really, it’s the total lack of change to his obnoxiously loud personality that gets me. “I was gone a month, tops. I heard you lived through a decade…I can’t imagine—”
He brings a hand to his chest. “Ouch. I’m not that old. About four years for me, thank you.”
I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe that explains the difference between him and Cole…Maybe there’s hope for the Fae King.
I swallow a long swig of beer, the wheat bitter on my tongue, but I’d drink a thousand beers with Flynn. For me, it’s only been weeks since we…My cheeks heat up at the memory, but I force my brain back on the most pressing matter. “What happened to Dark Falls?”
Flynn leans in for a kiss, but I smack two fingers over his mouth. “I need to know.”
He groans like a kid being refused a stick of candy and sighs. “Dark Falls has…sunk. The barrier between the three realms thinned, a rift opened, and the territories around it sledged inside an abyss of time. A timesink the size of a city took hold of it, and anything that gets too close to Dark Falls’ center remains almost suspended in time. Your lot isn’t used to dealing with the contraction and dilation of timelines. Freaks the earthlings out. Volunteers guard the walls and refresh the spells to contain the hollows, but it’s not good, Jules. Not good at all. Darkwood declared a state of emergency, and he’s basically calling all the shots.”
He swallows another mouthful of beer. “On Faerie’s side, the barriers are stronger, but we have the Unseelie banging down our doors…we’re stretched thin, and after Kirkan died—”
“How did he die?”
Flynn pouts as though he swallowed a mouthful of fermented fish. “Unseelie attack. Cole barely made it out. The healers couldn’t fix him right away, so for a few days, he hung between life and death. Without him, there was no clear succession. His siblings aren’t good politicians, most of them too caught up in their luxuries and pleasures to give it up. Darkwood called for a Seelie government and the end of monarchy, which would have weakened our magic. He almost succeeded, too, but Cole pulled through, and here we are.”
I grab my head, overwhelmed by the torrent of news.
He inches closer, the heat of his body delicious. “I’m on leave, but when I’m not here, I’m guarding the Dark Falls’ barrier. Cole posted me there not to have to deal with me anymore. That’s why so little time passed for me, too.”
The weariness of the last few days condenses into exhaustion. I need to return to Allie and unscramble all of this. “Take me back to the Academy,” I ask Flynn.
He pulls my wrist to him and kisses it with reverence. “Anything for my queen. But first, I need to show you something.”
14
