Page 93 of Blood, Bones, and the Bratva Bogeyman

Tomorrow, Calypso will order me to pay tribute again, and I will. Nikolai will challenge my throne with his wooden knife Misha carved for him, and I will let him win with a roar that scares the rugs. Cressida will watch us with eyes that see beyond the monster under my skin and chooses to love him anyway. Misha will grumble but love my family as his own, while Sunniva will smuggle contraband sugar in.

And Lucetta . . . she will not take her eyes from them, so they do not have to suffer the scars that she has had to endure.

The city will test my fences, and I will be there with a knife and a smile.

And if anything ever tries to take the crown from my wife, the glitter from my girl, or the knife from my boy, I will show them what love looks like when it has teeth.

Always, I will burn the world to ash for them.

Always, I will light the match with glitter-painted nails and a smile.

Because the Bogeyman no longer just thrives in the dark.

He’s found something worth protecting in the light.