Page 123 of Wild Fury (Fallen Royals 6)

“And then he brought me in on it, too,” Liam says. He leans forward so he can see me. “I’ve mostly given up my fighting ways, but it’s fun to collect money from assholes. And keep it, too, regardless of whether I come home with a win.”

Skylar scoffs. “It’s also nice to have a boyfriend who doesn’t have a bloody face all the time.”

I chuckle. “I’d bet.”

Theo pulls me closer.

We follow Caleb and Eli into a restaurant, to a curved booth in the back. We all file in, Theo and I somehow managing to get squeezed into the middle. My stomach flips, wondering how I’m supposed to make a mad dash out of here if I’m trapped.

Margo and Caleb sit on one side, and Eli, Riley, Liam, and Sky are on the other.

The waiter comes by with drinks, and Caleb lifts his.

“Cheers to us all being together,” he says.

“Cheers,” we all murmur, stretching to clink our glasses.

I suck on my soda, putting a good dent in it before I release the straw. I set it down just as Theo’s hand touches my thigh. It’s a good thing, too, because if I had still been holding it… well, I would’ve dropped it.

“Lucy,” Caleb calls.

I lift my gaze to him, willing my face to stay impassive.

“You’re back for good?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” I pause amid a few frowns and Theo’s fingers digging into my leg. “But now, I’m not going anywhere. Everything is…”

Caleb raises his eyebrow.

“I was going to say it’s all sorted. But there are a few loose threads.”

He nods and glances at Margo. “Whatever you need, we can help.”

“Thanks.”

The rest of dinner is… surprisingly pleasant. Not the seventh circle of Hell like I might’ve been inclined to think it was earlier. Margo and Caleb are relocating to Boston soon for grad school. Theo leans in at one point and tells me Margo is pregnant—another surprise! Her recently freed father is contemplating joining them to help when the baby comes.

Eli is set to start at the Massachusetts police academy next spring, right after he graduates from NYU. The same school Riley goes to. And due to the fact that Eli dropped out of the first school he went to, they started at New York University together—so they’ll graduate together, too.

It seems everyone is relocating to Boston.

“Well, we can’t leave, then,” I murmur to Theo.

He presses a kiss to my temple. “Why not?”

Right.

“What do you want to do with your life?” he asks me on our walk home. The others have departed, going their separate ways. “I mean, you know.”

I chuckle. “I’d like to travel more. Wilder put me on a plane for Colorado, and I loved it. I took a bus back and saw so much of the country that way. So maybe… Europe? Amelie is over there, probably having the time of her life. Visit her. Photograph people.”

“Sneakily?”

“Maybe. Or…”

“You could become a journalist,” he suggests. “Or at least work for a legitimate paper.”

“That sounds… really cool, actually.” I smack his arm. “Why didn’t you suggest that forever ago?”

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