Page 233 of Cursed Evermore
He smiled wide, his eyes brightening with ideas. “Good. Even you can admit you needed a break from life.”
I couldn't argue with him. Being with Elariya was exactly like that—a break from life. “I did need that.”
Bastian seemed pleased that I agreed. “What are you going to do?”
“That's the question of my life. There's so much I need to figure out. I’m not sure how many breaks from life I can take.”
“There is a lot happening to fuck with our minds, but we can’t do anything about it right now.” He flicked his palms over, but gave me a pensive stare. “Since you have to be here, perhaps you could just focus ononething tonight.”
“One thing?” I bit the inside of my lip, deciding not to argue.
“Yes, friend.Your mage.”
“Maybe.”
He tsked and rolled his eyes at me. “Just do it, Wolfe. You know you want her, so how about no maybes.”
He had me there so there was no point denying it. "No maybes then." I gave him a curt nod, then decided to turn the focus on him. "What about you and your so-called trip to the outlands with Arielle?"
He grinned wide. “So-called trip?”
“Oh, please. It was completely obvious. When are you two going to stop playing games?”
“Tonight.”
Few things stunned me. This did. “What does that mean?”
“My mageis setting a trap for me and thinks I don't know.”
That sounded like such an Arielle thing to do. “What kind of trap?”
“She thinks she can kiss me in public to make a statement.”
I bit the inside of my lip, silently commending her bravado. “At least she's doing something.”
“Except it won't work.”
A deep frown creased my brows. “Are you seriously going to turn her away and embarrass her?”
“No. I'd never do that. But I also won't share our first kiss in public. Especially not atDreynthor'sname day celebration. I can do better than that. And it shouldn't be her making the first move. It should be me.”
A genuine smile tugged at my lips. Arielle had loved him since before any of us even understood what love meant. She deserved to have him make the first move, to be courted properly instead of having to chase after him. And Bastian... while the rest of us hooked up and got up to all sorts of mayhem with females over the years, I knew he hadn't been with anyone since he realized his feelings for Arielle. That was years ago.
“About damn time.” I nodded.
“Yeah. I think so. Maybe I realized I needed a break from life, too.”
“Or you just needed to start living.” While he shared our grief and loss, Bastian was the only one in my Veythral who still had living parents and relatives he hadn't lost to war or disease.
“Living sounds good.”
“It does.”
“Come on, let's head into the viper's lair.” He motioned to the door ahead of us.
I nodded and we proceeded down the hallway. Moments later we entered the grand ballroom.
The usually sparse space had been transformed into something from a dream.
