“Well, that’s thanks for you. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be back together.” He rocked back and forth as the air magic kept him upright, his frozen boots just touching the ground.
“If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have gone through hell thinking you were gonna tell people about us,” I snapped.
“I was never going to do that.” He rolled his eyes and folded his arms, rocking side to side and back and forth. “You’re so dramatic, Lance.”
“Oh I’m dramatic?” I scoffed. “Everything about your ridiculous plan was dramatic.”
“Which is why we’ll make such good friends when you stop holding onto these silly grudges. You know what people say about grudges? It’s like taking killblaze and expecting your enemy to get high and kill themselves. But I’m never going to get high and kill myself, Lance. I’m going to be here always, as your friend. Just give into it, bro. It’s inevitable. Like you and Darcy were inevitable.”
“That’s kinda cute,” Darcy said, looking to me with her eyelashes fluttering.
“No.” I pointed at her. “Don’t you fall for that shit. He acts like he’s a puppy when he wants something, but he’s still the savage Wolf who cut your hair off, Blue. I’m never going to forget what it felt like finding you on the floor in the wake of his cruelty.”
“Come on, I’ve done way worse than that to my friends and they still love me. I once locked Max in a room full of Manticore farts for three hours – and let me tell you, it was some chore getting those Manticore farts in there. At least Darcy could grow her hair back with a simple potion, Max still has Manticore fart flashbacks to this day. He can’t even be near a Manticore without feeling queasy. And you sped up that whole hair growth process anyway, didn’t you, Professor Professional?” He gave me a pointed look. “Darcy told me you helped her get her hands on that potion. That wasn’t very Fae of you, sir, was it? You go all mortal for this girl, and I get it now. She’s your moon flower. Rare, with muscular petals and curly golden hair you just wanna grip in your fist while you make him - her smile-”
“What are you talking about?” I balked.
“The point is, she’s special.” He looked at Darcy with a doggish grin. “She and Tory are something else. And all the shit we did to them? Well, call me an asshole, but I think it made them bloom.”
“I mean, I’m never gonna thank you for that, but I think you fucked yourselves over.” Darcy shrugged. “We told you we never wanted the throne, but then you pushed and pushed us and made us want it more than you can even imagine.”
“You would’ve wanted it anyway eventually,” he said, a challenge in his eyes now. “But I like a little competition, babe, I’ll be more than happy to beat your ass when it comes to it.”
“We’ll see,” Darcy tossed back and I frowned at the way they were looking at each other, seeing their friendship properly for the first time since I’d come back into Darcy’s life. And shit, it looked familiar. Like the sort of bond I felt with Gabriel.
My gaze slid onto Seth as I chewed the inside of my cheek, knowing I was never going to like this guy, but perhaps I could be civil for now. For Blue’s sake.
I flicked my fingers, melting the ice binding his legs together and his eyebrows arched as he lowered himself to the ground and shook them out to get the feeling back in them.
“Did we just become true moon friends?” he asked with hope shining in his eyes.
“Absolutely not.” I turned my back on him, heading away across the snow and looking up at the moon as I slid the coin from my pocket and let it expand back into my father’s diary.
A whinny caught my ear and I spotted Xavier flying up above us, circling in the sparse clouds that hung like cotton wool in the dark sky. A smile twitched the corner of my lips up as he did a cartwheel then a barrel roll through the air, lilac glitter catching the light of the moon as it cascaded from his mane through the air.
I stuck two fingers in my mouth, whistling to get his attention and he neighed in greeting as he sailed down towards the ground and landed lightly before me. I reached out to rub his nose and he snorted happily before he trotted into my personal space and dropped his chin over my shoulder in a horsey hug.
“Hey Xavier.” I patted his shoulder, noting the Pegobag on his back and as he shifted into his Fae form, he slid it off and grabbed some clothes out of it, pulling on sweatpants and a shirt as he shivered in the cold.