Page 66 of The Hive Queen

He grins before returning his attention to the book he holds. “Still, though, destroying the entire pelvis is overkill.”

My phone dings with an alert, and I reach past Marc to grab it. “Food will be here in five minutes.” I switch to the app for our front gate and open it so the delivery person can come up to the cabin. “I hope you’re hungry.”

Marc’s nose wrinkles. “I’m not eating Sharpe’s nasty soup.”

I set my phone back down. “It’s not so bad.”

“Agree to disagree.” His knee presses against mine under the table. “When will Sharpe be back?”

I shrug.

Marc’s knee presses harder against mine. “You didn’t have to make him leave.”

Understanding that he’s no longer talking about Sharpe, I press my knee back just as hard. “He’s wrong this time.”

Marc looks down at the table. “I never thought I’d take Darius’s side against Flint.”

I push the book aside to turn and face Marc. “That’s not what’s going on here. I hate that we lost Darius, but we’rewarriors. Death was something we accepted long before we became immortal. These centuries we’ve had together have just been a gift.”

He blows out a hard breath. “Flint’s been my partner for longer, so why does it feel like I’m choosing a dead man over the one who’s still alive?”

I reach out to place a hand on his hard thigh. “Because Flint is being an asshole.”

Marc chuffs out a laugh. “Yeah, but he’s always shoved these kinds of things aside. Why does it matter this time?”

“Flint lost his daughter before we knew him, but we still stood with him through his grief and helped him find acceptance.” I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “He hasn’t done the same for either of us after losing Darius. He doesn’t even acknowledge it as a loss.”

I squeeze Marc’s thigh. “That’swhat’s wrong. He doesn’t get to decide whether we deserve to grieve, nor does he get to pretend that life is the same.”

“Sometimes it feels like he’s still here.” Marc rubs his chest. “I wake up from nightmares where I watch him die, and each time, the death is more horrifying.”

A shaky breath escapes me, and I cover Marc’s hand with mine.

“But the worst part is that it makes me happy.” Marc hangs his head. “When I dream, I can pretend he’s still alive in those moments before he dies. It’s like he’s not actually gone.”

“I would give anything for that to be true.” My heart aches for the want of it. “There are so many things I regret not saying to him.”

“All those times I called him an asshole and told him to shut up.” Marc’s hand turns beneath mine and he laces our fingers together. “Would you... I want to do something to commemorate his life.”

Tears threaten again, but I push them back. “Yes, I’d love to do that with you.”

“When we were in the Wastelands, before...everything...” Marc takes a shaky breath. “We passed through the Black Mountain. There were all these little ignis demons in the lava, and we talked about bringing some home and putting them in our fireplace, so they’d have a better chance at survival.”

A laugh escapes me. “Darius wanted to adopt tiny ignis demons?”

“Well, that might have been more my idea.” He peeks at me from the corner of his eye. “They’re cute.”

“Yeah, we can go get some ignis demons from the Black Mountains, though we’ll have to remodel the fireplace.” I lift Marc’s hand to kiss his knuckles. “We can’t have them getting in the gas line.”

He snorts. “Yeah, if we explode the cabin, Flint will definitely kill us.”

His smile turns bittersweet, and he stares into the distance.

With our hands clasped on the table, I turn back to the book I opened and skim the description of the Shard of Destiny.

My eyes freeze on the last line in the book.

Last known location: In the possession of Darius of Fumontis, Court Guard to Lord Talkis of the demon court.

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