Page 109 of Fall Before Her Throne

The three of them were silent as they considered my question. Finally, Ryu nodded. “Yeah. It at least proves he’s as crazy as the rest of us.”

Wynn nodded. “Agreed.”

“Fine,” Obi said. “See if he accepts in the morning. If he fails, we need to move on as soon as possible.”

He would accept. The question was whether he’d fail.

If he failed, he didn’t deserve a place here. A place with us, or with her.

But if he succeeded, he’d be one of us. A Shadow, forever.

33

LEONA

Iwoke up with my head on Cas’s bare chest. An arm wound around my waist while a body pressed into my back.

I’d just woken up from a dream—more like a memory than a dream. The night of Max’s twenty-first birthday party, after I’d sprung up next to Max and Cas’s table at the club and scared them both to death, I remembered squeezing between them. I had said that I wouldn’t mind being in the middle of a Max and Cas sandwich.

I was right. All these years, and I was fucking right.

I grinned to myself. What a delicious sandwich it had been.

The arm around my waist tightened. Max’s voice murmured in my ear. “What are you smirking about so early in the morning?”

“You’re awake.” I rolled over so that I could face him.

His eyes softened while the corner of his mouth perked up. Just like last night, he looked so unguarded. The mask I’d grown accustomed to seeing on his face had melted away, leaving the playful yet cunning eyes I’d grown up with. “I’m awake.”

We stared at each other, unspeaking, until the smile slowly fell off my face. Still, his arm remained tight around my waist.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered, a crease forming between his brows.

I searched his eyes and then thinned my lips. “Are you…is everything okay?”

“Is everything okay?” His mouth hung open. “Okay, Leona?”

I swallowed.

A smile bloomed on his face. His arm pulled me closer while his free hand cupped my cheek. His thumb brushed my face, over the ridges of my scar, and my heart thumped within my chest. “That was the best fucking night of my life.”

I sucked in a breath. “Yeah?”

He dipped his head, taking my lips in a blistering kiss that had heat coiling between my legs all over again. “Yeah.”

Another pair of lips kissed the back of my neck, and I arched into Cas. “I thought it was pretty fucking incredible, too.”

Max drew his fingers over my bottom lip. “Why?”

“I just…” My eyes searched his face. “I don’t want you to pull away.”

He turned serious. Ducking his head forward, he kissed me and then touched his nose to mine. “I’m done doing that.”

My eyes watered. “Are you sure?”

After last night, after the truth, after everything, I wasn’t sure I could mentally survive if he pulled away. If he had changed his mind. My heart felt raw and exposed, and not for the first time, he held it in his hands. I just hoped this time he wouldn’t toss it away.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” He closed his eyes for a heartbeat, and then they were back, locked on mine. “I’m so sorry, anima mia. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I still want to spend the rest of my life atoning for them.”