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“Look, Declan—”

“I’m sorry, Bryn—”

They started at the same time, and she was glad Kian didn’t make a sound. If only she could throttle the shadow and murder him again as he played peeping tom to what was going to be one of her most embarrassing moments, she was sure.

“I, uh...” Declan ran his hand through his hair. “It’s not at all that I didn’t enjoy our time together, Brynnie, please don’t think that...”

Oh gods. This was about to get really weird, and the light cough from the corner covering the laugh of a certain Fomori demon was thankfully missed by Declan.

“You were just... it was a bit much, Brynnie,” he whispered as if using his nickname for her might soften the blow.

A snort from Kian had her closing her eyes, visions of killing a shadow dancing through her head.

She was glad Declan couldn’t hear the idiot.

“The sex, Declan?” she asked, crossing her arms, and his eyes widened at her bluntness. She’d never been so outright with him, the word far too aggressive for her to use in his opinion, she was sure.

“Yes, you were so... not like you usually are. It was a bit too much for me. I think we were both looking for comfort in what we knew, with everything changing, and that...” Declan rubbed the back of his neck before dropping his hand to his side. “That was very much not how it used to be.”

“So I wasn’t docile and submissive like before is what you are saying?” she asked, walking around Declan and backing her body into the laughing shadow in the corner that she wished she could smother.

“I am not saying it like that, but you were so... just so... wild.”

Wild. She waswild.

Never, ever, had she been accused of that. She almost...likedit.

“I was too wild for you?”

“Yes!” Declan said before he dropped his relieved smile, realizing he had just stepped onto a minefield.

She smiled back, a cold tingle from Kian being directly behind her pushed her forward toward the door. Kian knew to disappear before he was seen by Declan, but what did she care now?

“That is fine, Declan. It was a one-time deal anyway. We both needed comfort, and that’s what I received. Sorry if I was too much for you and you did not get what you needed during our time together.”

“Brynnie—”

“No, I think we are done conversing on the subject. Thanks for making me aware and have a great day, Declan.” She all but shoved the man out of her apartment, putting her head to the wood as the shadow laughed out loud from behind her.

“Why is that so damn funny to you? That for once I wasn’t a wildflower holding up the wall?” she growled into the wood before turning to look at him.

Pretending to wipe tears away, he calmed himself, a slight hitch to his words as his laughter was not totally under control.

“No, it is that you were never anythingbutwild. Humanity tamed you as much as it could, but your roots are deep, Phantom Queen.”

Chapter 27

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow she would address all the pending issues. She would deal with all the loose ends of her poor choices made in the last day.

Settling into a book to calm her mind, Kian leaving to go laugh in the dark abyss of wherever he went when not following her like a lost puppy, one with big teeth, she was finally losing herself to sleep.

Bryn could finally rest. Leave the worries behind as she slept in herownbed like she should have instead of heading to Declan’s and adding another bad decision to her growing list of terrible choices.

While her attitude had grown, her ability to make intelligent decisions seemed to be thinning.

Closing her eyes, Bryn felt Cyerra settle onto the pillow next to her head. Not quietly either. Cyerra let her tail feathers tickle Bryn’s ears and nose more than was necessary. She knew it was the crow’s way of showing irritation for having to use her own magic as opposed to Bryn going out of her way to open the window for her.