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I almost slipped and covered it with a cough.

“Are you okay?” Nyx asked, his eyes still fixed on the statue.

“Yes. I just can’t believe you did this,” I said trying to hold myself together.

“I can’t believe you paid for it,” Kiera said, making a face at it.

“It was a nice gesture,” he said.

“For who?” Kiera asked.

I lost it, and Kiera and I both doubled over laughing. Nyx folded his arms over his chest and waited for us to finish.

“For Kol’s memory.”Nyx scowled, but a smile almost tugged the corner of his mouth.

“Do you want him remembered looking like that?” Kiera shuddered, and I bit back another laugh.

“The worst part about this is I know he’d be laughing with you and ruining this for me.” Nyx muttered under his breath, “I try to do something nice.”

“I think you’ve graduated from tall, dark, and douchey to broody.” Saying it brought tears to my eyes, but I had to—for Kol.

“Or tall, dark, and moody,” Kiera added.

I laughed, and my heart hurt. “Stop. You’re going to make laugh-cry again.”

Nyx slipped his arm around me and kissed my temple. “I miss him.”

“Me, too.”

“I do, too. Who am I going to gossip with?” Kiera side-eyed me again, and I had a feeling I knew what she wanted to gossip about.

“I like gossip.” Luka came up and hugged me from behind. “Sorry I’m late. Did I miss anything?”

“Just the entire thing,” Nyx said flatly. He was warming up to Luka but against his will.

“I had a meeting with the Board of Training to see if they would let me take some weapons lessons while I figure out what I want to do.” Luka grinned at Nyx, loving every second of the way my mate reacted to him.

Nyx had pulled some strings and secured Luka his rooms as long as he needed them, so he was definitely coming around.

“How did it go?” I leaned into Nyx.

“He said because I’m aiding the crown with my information on the Vivi Mortui, I would be welcome to take some lessons.” He smiled, and he seemed happier in the capital than he ever had in our village. I loved seeing how he’d grown and how he would continue to.

“Are we going to do this? Or am I going to have to keep looking at Kol’s wonky eye?”Kiera asked.

“You’ve ruined it!” Nyx rubbed his forehead. “It’s not really that bad, is it?”

Kiera grabbed Nyx by the shoulders and set him next to the statue, looking between them to compare. “It’s that bad.”

Nyx sighed. “He used my image. I refuse to believe it looks that bad.”

Kiera pulled a face. “I hope you don’t think you look like that.”

Nyx turned on me. “Tell me the statue looks exactly like me.”

“I don’t want to do that.”

Nyx closed his eyes and sighed. “It really is bad, isn’t it?”