Page 93 of Gray Dawn

“How about fifty percent sleep, and we split the other half between sex, movies, and takeout.”

“They do say good relationships are about compromise.”

“Then pick a number between one hundred and six hundred.”

“Two hundred and sixty three.”

“Room two hundred and sixty three it is.” His fingertips dug into my skin. “Have I told you I love you?”

“Only a few times today. Like five or six.” I stuck out my bottom lip. “So, basically, it’s been an eternity.”

“I love you.” He pressed his lips to mine. “More with every?—”

A loud pounding noise startled us apart, and we spun to face the door.

“Rue,” Clay yelled, proving his timing was as flawless as ever. “I know you and Ace are still in there.”

The door was the only exit, and if we walked out it, we wouldn’t see the inside of our room for hours.

Or, itwouldhave been the only exit, if I wasn’t a highly motivated gray witch.

After pressing a finger to my lips, I pointed to the window. I crept over, flipped the latches, then flung it open. As a gust of wind fanned Asa’s hair, I climbed out, hanging off the frame, and summoned my wings in a rush of silvery magic.

“I’ll give you to the count of three,” Clay warned, “then I’m coming in.”

Holding out my hand, I waited for Asa to decide. “Do you trust me?”

“You have to ask?”

He slid his palm over mine and up my arm, until our forearms were locked, then he stepped onto the sill.

“One.”

I held myself aloft while I cast thelight as a featherspell over him.

“Two.”

Wings pumping, I rose, lifting Asa off his feet while he grinned with the same childlike joy as Blay.

“Three.”

A thud echoed behind us, and I shot higher, faster, Asa dangling from our handclasp.

Clay stuck his head out the window as we cleared two more floors.

Whatever threats he shouted at us were absorbed by the traffic, the wind, and Asa’s and my laughter.

Our world could be dark and dangerous, cold and uncaring, but as long as we had each other, the ability to laugh at ourselves—and the speed to outrun indignant golems—we could survive anything life threw at us.

But having a petting zoo on speed dial probably didn’t hurt.

Aedan

Ten years later…

The house was the same.Small. White. The hill was greener than I remembered, gentler too. I heard the creek running behind the house, its burble a familiar lullaby from my life before.

I was the only thing that had changed, the only thing that no longer belonged, but I had to come.