Chapter 31
Cass
Iwandered for while in a strange, foggy no-time of dreams and nightmares. Finally, I felt the constant, beckoning pressure of light against my eyelids.
The feeling got stronger and stronger. At some point, I heard muffled giggling, and slowly opened my eyes. Holly and Reggie were on either side of my bed.
Reggie leaned to kiss my cheek. Joy expanded in my heart.
“You’re finally awake,” Reggie said. “It’s been, like, days.”
“Really? Wow.” It felt more like years to me. I stared at her. She looked great.
She stroked my wrist, the one where her name was tattooed. “I told them about your tattoo,” she told me proudly. “That’s how they knew the video was a deepfake.”
“Of course you did.” I swatted feebly at Reggie’s arm. “Shouldn’t you still be in bed? You’re recovering too, right?”
“Nah, I’m way better now that they took that thing out of my head,” she said cheerfully.
“Better than before, even. It’s awesome.
All my dreams came true all at one time.
Now Angela is planning this huge party to celebrate, as soon as they send you home.
Like Christmas, except with prime rib and leg of lamb.
She says she’s going to celebrate our own family’s Independence Day for the rest of her life, and me and Holly are supposed to help! It’ll be a tradition!”
“Wow. Sounds… celebratory.” Overwhelming was more like it.
“It’ll be awesome, and you’re the big heroine!” Holly told me excitedly. “You blew that bastard up like a boss!”
“Holly.” It was Kat’s reproving voice, from the door. “You’re not supposed to say that word.”
“But I have to call him something bad,” Holly complained. “I could use way worse words for him. I’ve heard ‘em all. Want to hear?”
“No, please don’t,” Kat said swiftly. “Not necessary. I’m familiar with them.”
“It wasn’t me,” I kept repeating, but I didn’t have enough breath to be heard.
Kat sat on the chair near the bed, trying not to smile. “What did you say, Cass?”
“I wasn’t the one who did it,” I said. “Jana set the charges. Shane was the one who shot Halliwell and fished me out of the ocean. All I did was run around like a chicken with its head cut off and jump off a cliff.”
“With a bullet wound in your shoulder,” Kat said. “Fleeing a massive bomb, and a homicidal maniac. Right. No biggie.”
“That’s not the point,” I said impatiently.
“Yeah, yeah. Point taken.” She smiled at me. “You’re a woman after my own heart. I’m developing quite a collection of them. Who knew there were so many.”
“Hey,” Shane said, appearing in the doorway. “You’re awake.” He came in and stood at the foot of the bed, holding a bunch of sunflowers in his hand.
My eyes drank him in. He looked good. More color. Already less thin.
“Don’t wear her out,” he said to the girls. “Amos is heading back up to the Mountain House, so catch a ride home with him, okay? I heard from Angela that you two have cookies to bake and decorate.”
Reggie looked down at me, a shadow of doubt in her eyes. “Will you be okay? If I go away?” she asked anxiously. “Are you sure?”
“I’ll be fine, and so will you, with our new friends,” I whispered. “We have nothing to worry about anymore. He’s gone forever, baby. We’re free. For real.”
“It’s just hard to believe,” she said. “I still have nightmares.”
“They’ll get better,” Shane offered. “Mine are better already.”
Holly grabbed Reggie by the hand and pulled her out the door, chattering all the way. Kat gave us a misty smile and backed toward the door. “I guess I’ll leave you two alone, then. And Cass? Thank you.”
“For what?” I said, exasperated.
“For ending it. It’s been hanging over us for so long. None of us really know what to do with ourselves now. How to behave. All the rules are suspended, all the parameters have flipped. It’s… mayhem. In a good way. If that makes sense.”
“Yeah,” I told her. “Perfect sense. But don’t thank me. It was a group effort.”
“Right, right. That’s your song, so you just go on and sing it. Later, babes.”
She shot us a conspiratorial smile and walked out, shutting the door behind her.
Shane approached the bed, looking helplessly at the bouquet that he held.
I glanced around the room and gestured toward the table by the wall. “Looks like there’s a vase over on the table. Thanks. They’re really pretty.”
Shane deposited the flowers into the vase and came over to sit next to me. We looked at each other, smiling. I felt bizarrely awkward and shy. Intensely excited.
“Have I thanked you yet?” I asked.
“For what? I can’t believe that rude shit I said to you on that phone call.”
I laughed. “Oh, please. I would never hold that against you. That was just Halliwell mind-fucking you. Besides, you listened to me. You saved Reggie, you saved me, you shot down Halliwell, you fished me out of the ocean. And you managed somehow not to die in the process. Yay, you. You get the gold star.”
“Do I?” He reached out to take my hand. “Can I choose my prize?”
My heart thumped. “And what prize might that be?”
He shrugged. “I thought maybe we could reopen that conversation we were having right before everything went to shit.”
“Um…” I racked my tired brains. “My life is sort of out of sequence at the moment. Remind me. What conversation was that?”
“The one about tempting the gods. The one where we were starting to talk about the future. Right before the worm ate SmokeScreen and Halliwell snatched you. It was a great conversation. Lots of great possibilities were alluded to. I didn’t want it to end.”
“Oh. That one.” I felt my face start to heat. My lungs squeezed joyfully.
“Just so you know, I’m ready to tempt the gods now,” he said.
“I’m so crazy about you, I can’t see straight.
I’ll rub the gods’ noses in it. Whatever they do to us, it can’t be worse than what we’ve already been through.
I’m ready to accept on faith that you exist. You’re too good to be true, light years too good, but you’re true all the same.
You break the rules of nature. You are fucking spectacular, Red. And I love you.”
I was flustered speechless. My face was even hotter, and now I couldn’t breathe at all. Particularly not when he pulled a small black velvet box out of his pocket.
“So,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “Here. Can’t blame a guy for hoping.”
I stared at the box, tear-blinded, as usual. I was so weepy now. It was a brand-new personality trait. Maybe that kind of sentimental goopiness just came right with being in love. Certainly I’d never experienced it before Shane came into my life.
“What’s this?” I asked. “Isn’t this a little premature? Are you sure? I can be really annoying, you know. I have all kinds of character defects you haven’t had a chance to get pissed off about yet.”
“So do I,” he admitted. “And absolutely, I’m sure. I am nailing this down at my earliest opportunity. Which is to say, the second that you’re conscious. And if you’re in a weakened and confused state, so much the better. I’ll take any advantages that luck and fate offer me. Open it.”
I opened the box, and stared down, astonished. A wide band of yellow and white gold formed a pattern of a crown, the points of which were decorated with rubies, the white gold studded with a milky sparkle of tiny diamonds. It was lavish, stunning. Utterly unique.
“Holly suggested it,” he said. “A crown, for the Red Queen. Frey is friends with a great goldsmith. He worked fast. While you were all drugged up.”
I couldn’t speak for several moments, but my choice had been made a long time ago, and it had been brilliantly clear to me the moment I leaped off Halliwell’s terrace.
Shane was my man. I wasn’t letting him slip away.
I slid the ring onto my finger. It fit perfectly. It felt wonderful. Heavy, smooth, almost alive. “Wow. I sure do wish I wasn’t all bashed up in a hospital bed full of bullet holes. I’d rather hop right into your arms and be swept away to be ravished.”
“Ahhh…” His voice trailed off. “I’m going to assume that’s a positive response to my formal declaration of marriage. If I’m wrong, tell me now.”
“Nope, you’re not wrong,” I said. “It doesn’t get any more positive than this.”
His grin transformed his face. “I’ll make up for lost time as soon as possible, with the ravishing, as soon as you’re back in form. Demiguel said you can go home in a couple of days and finish recuperating there. When you’re home, we’ll celebrate.”
“So much to celebrate,” I said. “I can’t even pick a thing. There are too many.”
“Yeah, and Holly will be celebrating having a sister. She’s always wanted one,” Shane said. “She’ll be over the moon that this is happening.”
I laughed at that, wiping my eyes. “Reggie, too. I’ve never seen her so happy.”
“The girls have been helping me open up my apartment, down below Ethan’s and Frey’s. We’re going to need our privacy, when you get home. For all that ravishing, you know. It can get noisy.”
“Can’t wait to see it,” I said.
“I think you’ll like it,” he said. “I have a town house in Seattle, too, but Holly and I always liked this place best. There’s a nice bedroom for Reggie. The room I was thinking for your home office has a great view of Mt. Rainier. Very inspiring.”
I reached up, grabbing a piece of his shirt and tugging him toward myself. “I’m feeling inspired right now,” I said. “Get over here, you.”
“Careful! Your shoulder is still—”
“Don’t worry about my shoulder,” I assured him. “I’m medicated. I’m feeling no pain. You’re all compliments and gorgeous jewelry and declarations of love and ravishment, but guess what, buddy? You’re all talk and no action. Get your fine ass down here right now and kiss me, already.”
He obliged me, and the intoxicating taste of him was a divine elixir. I could have leaped up and danced a passionate tango, though that might have been the morphine talking. Still. Every sweet detail of soft, warm lips, and tongue, and tenderness. Trust.
So good. So delicious. It just rolled over me like a wave of shining glory.
He leaned back for air, stroking my cheek reverently and gazing intently into my wet eyes. “I love you, Red,” he said roughly. “I can’t believe my luck.”
“That makes two of us,” I admitted. “I guess we’ll have to learn how to believe it. We can teach each other, and remind each other whenever we forget. The kissing helps.”
“Sounds like a great plan,” he muttered, as our lips met again.