Page 66 of A Queen Of Broken Realms
“Then the Reaper brought me, like, sixty different kinds of glass cleaner and stainless-steel polish and car wax.”
“What the fuck?”
“Right?” Ediye says as she passes me another churro. “Apparently, they’re for Eryx’s wings.”
“To what, polish them? What kind of kink does he think you have, exactly?”
Ediye shrugs as Ashen and Roman laugh about something in the other room. We watch in chocolate-covered, dough-induced silence as they pour their drinks. “Anyway, it’s way over the top. He has to stop. I know he’s grateful for me bringing you home and all, but he doesn’t need to do all that. You’re myfriend, and so is he.”
The realization fills my heart with a little ache as I look toward my husband. My gruff but generous, scary but sweet husband. “Shit…that makes sense, Ediye.”
“What, that we’re friends?”
“No, that he hasn’t had any. Gift giving is kind of his love language, you know? This ‘friends’business is new to him, and maybe he’s struggling to make sense of it,” I say, watching as the Reaper and our vampire guest continue their perusal of the other liquors hoarded by the suite’s previous occupants.
“Well, he has them now, so he’d better figure it out.”
I give him one last look, averting my eyes before Ashen catches my gaze, a little twinge still burning in my heart for him. The thought plagues me as Ediye and I chew in silence. Even though Ashen might have had a sister or romantic relationships like Davina and Rosario, maybe he’s never really hadfriends. My attention settles on the other vampire in our midst as I watch the two men bonding over expensive booze, and though I smile at the thought of their fledgling friendship, that contentment falters when I remember the damage I sensed in Roman’s fractured mind.
“Did you fix whatever is going on with that one?” I whisper in Ediye’s ear, pulling away to nod toward Roman.
“No,” she replies with a shake of her head. “It’s not a one-and-done deal, unfortunately. We will need to continue the treatment daily for some time.”
“How long?”
Ediye shrugs, breaking the last of her churros to give me half. “Maybe a few weeks. Maybe more. As long as it takes, I guess.”
“Hmm. It might take a good long while in that case. He’s a strange one.”
“You’restrange. You’re the queen of strange.”
“Am not.”
“You once asked me if your labia was going to become a parachute.”
I huff a derisive laugh. “I was joking.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“Fine.Halfjoking. But there was a scientific precedent, Ediye. That hybrid had an enormous dick.”
Ediye’s eyebrows raise as she tilts her head and considers my point. “I’ll have to take your word on that one. But you have also set a precedent of strangeness.”
“Fine. Then let’s say strange knows strange. And that man isstrange,” I whisper, my eyes still on Roman, my voice low enough that he won’t be able to hear me over his conversation with Ashen. “He’s… missing pieces. And there’s something within his mind that he doesn’t know exists.”
“What do you mean?” Ediye asks as she pops her half of the churro into her mouth. “Like a flatworm?”
I snort a laugh and Ediye gives me a devious smirk. “No, I mean a secret. But one he didn’t put there.”
“Then who did? And why?”
“Both good questions. To which I can only say,who thefuck knows.”
“So…we’re off to a good start then.”
“Yeah, no shit. Alsohowis a mystery.”
“Then we basically know nothing aside from a vampire has a secret. How shocking,” Ediye says with a teasing smile. “Remind me, Lu…how long was it you were in hiding, keeping your identity a secret?”
