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“Bullshit,” he finished for her. “I know. You’ve informed us all many, many, many times now.”

Taly wasn’t pouting. That would be childish. “Well, it’s still true.”

He hummed softly, the sound laced with amusement, and pulled her into his arms. “I will not be placated,” she grumbled into his chest. But he began rocking them back and forth in a dance with no music, and she couldn’t help but fall into rhythm.

“It’s okay to be worried, Tink.”

“I’m not worried,” she said, pressing her cheek to his shoulder and wishing she could feel the warmth of him through his armor. “If you can’t manage to survive such an easy mission, then don’t bother coming back.”

“I see,” he said with a laugh. “Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re crazy to do this without me. What if one of the riftways lands you in a caved in room with no exit? You’ll really be kicking yourself when there’s no one there to rewind you out of that.”

His hand tightened at her waist, and he spun them expertly. “If that happens, you’re welcome to tell me I was wrong.”

“Oh, I will.”

“Good.” He brushed his mouth to her temple.

“Seriously, how are you so calm right now?” They were going behind enemy lines. Death was a very real possibility.

They could get caught. Get trapped. One of the riftways could malfunction, and they could end up like the massive crater he was carefully steering them around as they continued their slow dance among the trees.

Skye’s chuckle reverberated beneath her cheek. “Taly, you spent a year dreaming of my death, reaching further and further out into impossibility because you were so scared something might happen while you were away. And that was without youeven trying. If I were really going to die today, you would’ve seen it.”

He was right. She tried to believe it. This wasn’t like before, when her visions had dragged her unwillingly through nightmare after nightmare, showing her every way he could die.

This time, she’dlooked. She’d checked every riftway, traced the paths, gone through the plan again and again, searching for the fault line before it could break.

So why did it still feel like she was missing something? Like there was a hole right off the edge of her vision, shifting whenever she tried to focus on it.

“You have too much faith in me,” she murmured.

“Agree to disagree.”

Light filtered down through the canopy in pillars that sparkled with motes of red and gold.

“Tell me,” Taly said. “What’s the first thing we’re going to do when this is over?”

If she could just hold onto the idea ofafter, then everything would be fine. It was just the what-ifs messing with her.

A laugh rumbled beneath her cheek, and his hand moved from her waist to grip her ass firmly.

With a sigh, Taly grabbed it and pulled it back to her waist. “Second thing,” she said.

His hand dipped again, and she slapped it back.

“Stop ruining the moment,” she demanded, doing her best not to laugh.

Skye spun them again, and Taly followed him effortlessly. This time he said with complete seriousness, “I want to take you to Ghislain.”

“That’s going to be a little difficult with the Seren Gate still down,” she pointed out. “Also, I’ve been to Ghislain.”

“But not as my mate.” He kissed her. “Myélan.” The Faerish word rolled beautifully off his tongue. “Let’s be honest, everytime you’ve been called to my family’s estate, it wasn’t to visit. It was so that my mother could make sure I wasn’t beingruinedby having a human companion.”

“I’m not sure having a time mage companion will be seen as a step up in her eyes.”

“Maybe. Probably,” Skye admitted, still rocking them back and forth. “Growing up, it always felt like I had two lives. One here, and one in Ghislain. And I did everything I could to keep them separate. To keep that life frominfectingthe small amount of happiness I’d found here.”