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When Niyx’s grin turned into a hearty laugh, Alex’s intrigue grew and she waited to hear an explanation.

“You have my letter on you?” he asked, and since he was apparently clued in to everything about her—whether because he actually was somehow stalking her from beyond the grave or because he was just a figment of her own imagination—he already knew the answer.

Pulling it from her waistband, her fingers wobbled slightly as she held it in her grip.

“This meant the world to me,” she said quietly. “Without it, I—I would have been—”

“I figured you’d be lost without me,” Niyx said, sounding almost smug about it. “What can I say? With me gone, the world no longer knows what perfection is.”

“And there’s that modesty,” Alex couldn’t help saying, but secretly she loved the nostalgia of the moment. She soaked up every detail of it, knowing their time would soon come to an end, that the scene would dissolve once the Gate decided it was done. She had to make the most of every second.

“Modesty is like humility,” he said with a dismissive gesture. “If you have it, you don’t need it, because you’re too good for it to begin with.”

Alex wryly said, “Goodness, you’re even more arrogant now than you were while still alive.”

“There’s no time for shame among the dead, Aeylia,” he said with a wink. “Now hand over the letter.”

She did so, resisting the urge to tell him to be careful with it.

“Here it is,” he said after skimming his own words. “See this?”

She looked to where he was pointing and cast her eyes over the handwriting she’d read too many times to count.

… And trust Kaiden - he seems a good sort, and he has an impressive right hook. Trust him to look after you now that I can’t.

“What about it?” she asked.

“The ‘sorry’ was because he took a swing at me,” Niyx said, humour in his tone. “Him. A human. Throwing a punch at me. A Meyarin.” He touched his jaw as if recalling the blow. “And he actually made good work of it.”

Shocked, but understanding why that would amuse Niyx, she asked, “What did you do to make him hit you?”

With fake affront, he said, “What makes you think I did anything?”

Alex sent him a look.

“Okay, fine, I may have deserved it,” he admitted. “But why that was, you don’t need to know.”

Alex opened her mouth to argue, but he continued over her, “I’ll give you one option here, Aeylia—I can tell you about the ‘sorry’ or I can tell you about the ‘thanks’. But I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to know about the ‘thanks’.”

With that dangling like a chocolate bar in front of her, Alex gave a terse nod of agreement.

“I may have…encouragedhim in his pursuit of you,” Niyx said, his smile concerning enough for Alex to fear what such encouragement had entailed. But then his expression softened as he shared, “And I may have told him that no matter how hard you made him work for it, it’d be worth it in the end.”

Alex had to blink quickly against a renewed blurring of tears—tears that only thickened with Niyx’s next words.

“Obviously, he took my advice to heart, since he’s now offering his gratitude.” His smile returned as he added, “But you should know, I also told him I’d kick his ass if he ever hurt you.” He cocked his head thoughtfully and looked around their scenic view. “That’s going to be more difficult now, but I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge.”

A single tear managed to fall down her cheek.

“That said,”—he reached out and wiped the tear away— “I’m pretty sure you won’t have anything to worry about.”

If Niyx kept it up, Alex feared he would succeed in killing her from his words alone.

With him watching as she visibly wrestled her emotions, his mouth curled upwards as he shook his head and said, “Gotta say, though. That stunt you pulled with him last night?” He raised his eyebrows. “Ballsy, Aeylia. I don’t know whether to rail at you both or offer a standing ovation.”

In a croaky voice, Alex replied, “How about you just give me a hug and tell me that you’re okay?”

Everything about him gentled at her request and he didn’t hesitate to open his arms.