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“Do you understand where I’m going with this?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. Was this how Darien felt? When he’d found out about Loren? When he’d realized he was in love not just with a mortal, but a sick one? “But you’re missing a pretty big piece of the puzzle there, Jewels.”

Her sandy brows inched together. “What piece?”

“You don’t have two years, you have like two days.” The laugh that barked out of him was forced; nothing about this was funny. “And so do I.”

Her answering laugh was bubbly and a lot more genuine. “Okay, so…what you’re saying is, we should just enjoy ourselves while we can?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, sure—two years, two days, what difference does it make? We’re going to die eventually.” It was kind of funny, actually—mortals were treated so poorly because of their short lives, but hellsehers hardly lived any longer. Theycould, yeah, sure, if they abstained from using magic. Most didn’t, though, and so they died young.

Jewels stared down at her shoes, her hands gripping the counter’s edge.

When he stepped closer, she peeked up at him. “Let’s make a deal,” he said.

“Okay,” she began, her tone cautious. “What sort of deal?”

“No more serious shit. We’re already in the worst place in the world. We’ll be lucky if we live to see tomorrow. So let’s just…be.”

“Be,” she repeated, her brows rising.

“Let’s live,” he clarified. “While we still can.” He took one step closer and extended a hand. “Deal?”

For a moment, she just stared at his hand. Thinking.

And then she clasped it, the corners of her lips tipping up. “Deal.”

Slumpedon the floor in the hallway by the cold-storage medication room, Max tried not to fall asleep. Dallas was dozing against the wall across from him, while Dominic wandered around muttering nearby.

“Who are you talking to?” Max asked the Angel.

“Sirocco.”

Max grunted in response; he was too tired for words.

“Thought I was talking to myself, didn’t you?” Dominic asked with an over-the-shoulder smile. His hawk Familiar—Sirocco—cawed a laugh from his shadow.

Max leaned forward and craned his neck to try to see in the doorway of the medication room, but it was impossible from this angle. “What’s taking them so long?” he grumbled.

“They’ll be around,” Dallas said groggily.

Max’s wince was apologetic. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

She stretched her arms out above her head. “I wasn’t really sleeping,” she said around a yawn, her eyes watering. “Mostly thinking.”

“About what?”

Dominic called from down the hallway, “Hey, you guys want anything from the vending machine?”

“Just water,” Max said.

“Same,” Dallas called. To Max she said, “About what Scarlet and Magenta said in the boat. About Aurora.” Right—that shit about all her different powers.

Cast illusions. Freeze time. Speak to spirit creatures. Animate lifeless objects. And all that didn’t even include the Elemental powers.

Their conversation took a pause as Dominic smashed the vending machine open. Bottles cascaded out and rolled across the floor. The Angel scooped three up and came over to join them. He handed out the waters and sat down, the dark feathers of his wings hissing as they spread across the floor.

“Thanks,” Max said at the same time as Dallas.