Page 32 of Family Found

Inkiri clicked and reached for my wrist to rub his thumb over the inside of it. “You don’t see as well as we do in the dark, sadir. And if you don’t, then neither do the human mages. They will be at a disadvantage.”

Vergis nodded. “Makes sense. Some might have night vision goggles, but I have death vision, so I’d say we win.” He took one of the sweet vinné himself and crunched down on it as if death vision was an appetizing thought.

Well, oookay. Vergis had clearly decided the humans would make a nice target for his foul mood. I wasn’t going to argue. Those mages had been the ones responsible for the apocalypse. Sure, I’d been there, and they’d used me, but they were the guilty ones, the ones who had wanted to hurt other people.

I exhaled slowly. Framing it like that was still new to me. I’d felt guilty for so long, but after everything the land had shown me of the past, after what Kinnek had taught me about magic, I knew two things. The first was that I had been an ass to wish anyone dead to begin with, but the second was that my wish alone would never have done anything.

“You also have good aim to go with your death vision,” I mumbled.

“Look at you, Princess. First you demolish that fancy rich-people resort during our rescue mission, and now you’re endorsing murder. You’re becoming more likable by the day.”

Inkiri grunted. “Rory has always been likable, Vergis.”

“He said more likable, which just indicates increasing fondness. He’s saying your mate started out as sweet as a…raspberry, and he’s only getting sweeter.” Lissir beamed, never faltering when Vergis attempted to glare him down.

“Yes, boundless fondness.” Inkiri bent to lick my neck. That made me miss my scarf, even though I’d never worn those much, not before turning trophy mate to my horned husband, at least.

I put my hand on my neck and leaned into that role. “You’re embarrassing me.”

Vergis groaned. “We’re leaving soon, so you can’t fuck.”

Lissir clicked his tongue. “Pleasure play can be fast without forgoing the satisfaction of it.” He leaned back. “It’s sad that you don’t know that, Vergis. Even Nokim knows. From what some of the makers say, Nokim knows very well.”

Okay, Lissir was back on his mission to get those two together. Vergis frowned, Inkiri chuckled, and I tried to ignore the anxiety bubbling in my belly. We were going to cut the monsters off from Earth for good soon. That meant that all the Raikengana who helped with that might be in danger. I’d have to do my best—my best magic—to make sure that didn’t happen, and I’d have to get the land to help me with that too.

It would be fine. It had to be. A love story always had a happy ending, didn’t it?

Chapter 11

Inkiri and Lissir left me and Vergis to ourselves while they went to coordinate with Hove. I freshened up in the bathroom off the living room.

When I came back, Vergis had spread out the cushions so he could lie on his side. He was scrolling on his phone.

“You don’t have Wi-Fi here.”

He looked up. “Oh, really? Huh, that didn’t occur to me. So kind of you to let me know.”

“I just mean…what’re you doing?”

He put his phone away. “Are you going to get dressed at all?”

I looked at my clothes. “Well, everything was muddy, and Inkiri said they’d wash it. They left us these in the room, but I have no idea where my clothes are.”

Vergis stood. “There’s a laundry here. They work pretty fast, so it should be done. We can go and pick them up now. That’s more useful than just sitting around and staring at the walls.”

“You were looking at your phone.”

He put his hands on his hips. “Because I don’t like staring at the walls. Are you coming, or do I have to carry your stuff back here by myself?”

“I’m coming. Uh, do we leave a note for the others?”

He stretched. “Do you really think you’d get lost? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you kind of stick out.”

Vergis was probably having a bit of a day, given the situation with Aragis, so I gave a shrug and played innocent. “Do I really?”

He heaved a sigh. “Let’s go, Princess. Maybe try not to attract any dangerous wildlife.”

“I never try to attract anything.” Which was the absolute truth, and whenever I had attracted something, it hadn’t worked out all that great. Apart from Inkiri, but he’d come with the mate call.