Page 103 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

A darkness follows behind him.

“He’s never met her.” Jack says quietly behind me. “The other principals won’t let her come back to Heim, and because he has a human mother, Minoka would get stuck in the mortal realm, powerless, if he ever left.”

“Never let it be said the old gods are kind.”

“I like to think I am.”

“You can be. But I know you can be cruel too.”

“Never to you.” He sets his hand over my heart. “No matter how long you make me wait for your return.”

“I plan to come back. Every night. A month was too long to go without you. A week… any measure of time is too much.”

“I cannot tell you how glad I am to know I don’t have to wait forever to have you again.”

“But it is going to be strange, coming back here without some axe dangling over my head. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take to shake this looming sense of dread… what if Juun changes her mind again.”

“She won’t.” He shakes his head, the motion shuffling his nose against my shoulder. “She can’t. You made your bargain, you fulfilled your end of the deal. You’re safe from her.”

“But am I safe from everyone else?”

His brows pinch and he doesn’t answer me. If I could wipe the concern from his face forever, I would, but for now…

I turn in his lap until I straddle him and I take his furry cheeks between my hands. “We’ll figure it out.”

A smile snicks his lip upward. “We have to.”

When I kiss him, it’s all I can do to stop myself from shuffling the skirt of my dress aside and taking him. When a pair of shadows flop onto the couch beside us, I’m glad I haven’t.

“As much as we’d prefer to watch the show,” Minx says, dragging her hand down my arm in a petting motion. “We’ve been tasked with collecting your bride for your mother.”

“Which one?” I ask, wary.

Minx smiles, but doesn’t answer.

From my other side, Calico toys with the skirt of my dress, but she looks at Jack. “You know where to go, bunny boy.”

They stand in strangely fluid motions and pull me to my feet as well. Jack watches us go and I kill the nerves fluttering through my stomach as he disappears from my sight.

He wouldn’t have let them take me if it wasn’t what we’re supposed to do.

Arms linked in mine, they lead me through Babel, past curious eyes and covetous smiles.

“They’ll all be looking at you differently after this.”

“After what?”

But they don’t answer as we pass through a dark veil into an enormous space that is filled with flowers and light. Soft pink blooms form walls and hang overhead like a fluttering ceiling.

But Ester is nowhere to be seen. Luckily, neither is Juun.

“I thought you were taking me to his mother.”

“For, not to.” Calico says as a veil of flowers closes us off from the entrance to Babel. “You of all people know the wording is the most important part.”

“What have you collected me for?”

They hold up a long white dress and I flinch at the sight of it. So similar to the things Jack has clothed me in, and yet so different.

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