Page 69 of A Game of Vows and Vendettas
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The team waits for us in the palace foyer, Scarlett beaming with pride as she looks at me.“Can’t believe my younger sister made it down the aisle before I did.”
“Yeh, neither can I,” Quinn says, shoving her out the way and pulling me into a hug.“I hope you have the most amazing honeymoon.”
“Where is it you’re going again?”Remy asks as Bella appears behind her.
“We’ve got two weeks of duties to do first.We’ll head back here for a goodbye dinner and then we’ll start out in Nefari City, before heading to the fae isles.”
“Nefari?”Bella’s eyebrows nearly climb off her forehead.
“You know it?”I ask.
“Yeh, sort of.Why would you go there?I heard it’s full of the worst kind of people,” she says.
I nod.“But the worst kind of people make the best kind of magic.I’ve got a very old, very powerful grimoire to negotiate for.It’s my wedding present.”
“You can’t call it a wedding present if you haven’t actually got it,” Quinn says, her face scrunched.
“Have you ever known me to lose a negotiation?”I fold my arms and stare at her.
She opens her mouth but doesn’t find anything to say.
“I thought not.”
Remy puts her fist out for me to bump.“Be good, kids,” she says in the most un-Remy like slang.Maybe Bella banged some of the stuffy professor out of her.
“When you’re back, I want to tell you all about this new runic?—”
“Let me stop you there, Rem, why don’t you tell Bella, hmm?”
Remy eye rolls at me.“One of these days you’re going to need my skills.”
“For now, I just need your friendship.”
She smiles at me and pulls me in for a proper hug.Morrigan and I give each of the girls a hug in turn and then head out to the carriage.
Queen Calandra gives us both hurried goodbyes and then Penelope joins so I give her and Morrigan a minute.But even as we’re settled in our seats, Morrigan curled under my arm, I can still hear Penelope shrieking at us as the carriage rides off.
“You think she’ll go?”I ask.
“Did you see the way she looked at Dahlia?Of course she will,” Morrigan sighs and rests her head against my chest.
“The real question is, can you get the grimoire?Bella is right, you know.That city isn’t a great place.It’s run by the mafia.”
“Did you forget who you married?”
“I’m just saying.”
“And I’m just saying I can negotiate for anything.I won your heart, didn’t I?”
She jabs me in the ribs.
“No more relationship deals, remember?You made your last one with me.”
“I did.”I nod in confirmation.“Besides, I have something much better now…”
“Oh?”She sits up to look at me.
I grin my most charming smile, the one reserved just for Morrigan.
“A promise.”
She frowns.
“A promise to love.And be loved.Today, tomorrow, next week, next year.To love you until I’m nothing but ashes and sand.”
And when I say the last line, she says it with me.“Until our souls find each other again where blue meets blue.”