Page 97 of A Taste of Bliss

I love doing this job. I’ve missed it.

“About last night,” Simon starts but falls short.

I stay silent, prodding him to continue.

“Pisces didn’t kidnap you,” he says. “He swears he found you sleepwalking out on the street.”

I’m about to repeat that I’ve never been a sleepwalker, but I just sigh instead. “You believe him?”

“I do.” Simon gives me a soft smile. “All I know is what he told me, but I know him, Bliss. He would never hurt anyone if he could help it. Please believe me. He says you were cold and shivering and he obviously wanted to get you back to your sister, but he didn’t know where you guys were staying. So he brought you back to his bed to sleep and get warm.”

“Why did I wake up with him in the room just sitting there like a creep?”

Simon lets out an awkward laugh. “He couldn’t wake you up and was worried so he stayed up all night watching over you. He must have fallen asleep.”

I nod, but I still don’t understand how I was sleepwalking. “Did he have anything to do with me sleepwalking?” Or is this somehow the wraith’s doing?

“How could he have? Is that something fae can do?” Simon asks, seemingly a little frightened at the thought.

“I have no idea. It’s impossible for all fae powers to be catalogued due to how differently they can manifest in each individual.” I know because I checked when I was twenty. I washoping there was some secret succubus power that would allow me to feed differently.

“Pisces is a really good guy. I think you’d actually really like him if you got to know him. Oh, also, Wrath wants to meet you.” Simon’s smile grows wider, almost mischievously.

He does?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes!

When?

I hide my excitement. “Really? Why?” I try to put some doubt into my voice, like I don’t believe him.

Simon nods enthusiastically. “We told him about last night, and I think he wants to help Pisces smooth things over.”

“I do owe him his hoodie back,” I say slowly, as if I’m coming around to the idea of meeting him. I scrunch my face in thought for a couple seconds and nod. “Yeah, okay.”

“Great, you’ll really like him. He’s one of my best friends.” It almost sounds like Simon wants me to date the guy. Wrath should thank him for trying to be a good wingman.

But I doubt he and I would have a future together. There’s no way he’s my mate. He saw my eyes that one night, even though I couldn’t see his. He would have said something. Not even a guy who barely talks would stay silent if he met his mate.

Simon and I continue chatting until it’s time for Goddess’ Trance to go out on stage. I give each of the band members a huge hug, gripping Taser even more tightly than the rest. “Give ’em hell, Tay,” I say. He kisses me on the cheek quickly and heads out with guitar in hand to a pretty enthusiastic welcome, which is very, very exciting. Most of the crowd here probably aren’t familiar with us, since we’re a late addition to the line-up, but I see enough people wearing some of our merch that I know there’ll be a good amount of people singing along with Amelia.

As Amelia opens up with a few notes of “Venomous,” I smile wide.

This—this is what I love.

I think back to Liz and I sitting on the steps of the fae council building.

You don’t wait around, Bliss. You live. You follow your joy.

Was this what she was talking about?

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

BLISS