Page 48 of The Fates We Tame

Then my brothers respond in very different ways. Niro is the first to his feet. He slaps my back and kisses Sophia on the cheek, right over her scar. “Congratulations, you two. You ever need relationship advice, I’m right here.”

This makes me laugh, and I realize I like this version of Niro so much better than the angry kid who arrived all those years ago.

“Envy you, brother,” Bates says as he congratulates us. “I’d marry Vi today in a heartbeat, but she wants to wait until she’s not pregnant to tie the knot.”

“Seeing how much you like knocking her up, that’s a narrow window,” Vex says.

“If you’ve found even half the happiness Iris and I have, you two will do okay,” Spark says.

Clutch steps up and says a few encouraging words, hoping we’ll be as happy as he is with Gwen.

Halo kisses Sophia’s cheek, then hugs me. “Don’t know if you remember but you bet me ten grand that I would end up with Ari. Was gonna pretend I forgot about it, but I’ll transfer it today. Call it my wedding present.”

I laugh. “I’ll take the cash. But you still owe me a wedding present.”

“Thanks for officially making me the last man standing,” Vex jokes.

Halo throws an arm over his shoulder. “That’s because you haven’t felt the fucking miracle of going home to a soft bed, a softer woman, and a pussy that’s thoroughly branded as yours.”

Clutch laughs. “True story.”

Vex hugs me, then hugs Sophia. “I’m happy for you both. Look forward to seeing more of the two of you.”

King comes over last. “I feel like there’s more to this than you’re telling us, Switch. But Rae would hand me my ass if I didn’t wish you both well. So, he is the half part of a blessed man, left to be finished by such as she; and she a fair divided excellence, whose fullness of perfection lies in him.”

The conversation goes quiet around us, and I raise an eyebrow.

King shrugs. “Shakespeare.”

“How the fuck do you know that?” I ask.

“Rae, obviously,” Clutch says. “You forgot the whole ‘she fucked with him using Shakespeare’s kings as analogies’ bullshit.”

He’s right. I had forgotten. Add it to the list of things I’ve been told but somehow can’t keep in my head. “Now I remember. But how do you know that quote?” I ask.

Niro puts his hand in the air as if he’s a school kid waiting for the teacher to choose him. “Pick me. Pick me. I know the answer to this one.”

King laughs. I notice the two of them are more in sync than they ever used to be. I wonder what changed over the years, but it’s almost like an older brother with his sometimes-annoying younger sibling. “Go ahead.”

“I did it as a his-and-hers tattoo on the two of them,” Niro says.

King rolls up his sleeve, and there in two sharp lines of black ink on the inside of his forearm, it says,He is the half part of a blessed man, left to be finished by such as she.

“Rae’s got the other half across her hip.”

“That’s so romantic,” Sophia says.

“Come in and I’ll do you some ink,” Niro says. “Call it my wedding present.”

“Does it hurt?” Sophia asks.

I can’t help but laugh. “Depends on where you get it, Sparrow.”

“Fuck my life. He’s already given her a pet name,” Vex says. “I’m surrounded by chicks and sparrows and duchesses and little ones.”

Once the paperwork is registered, we’re officially married. In the eyes of the law and my brothers.

Once we climb into Niro’s truck, Sophia turns her phone back on, and it blows up with an explosion of messages and phone calls.