He hesitates, his hands flexing on the steering wheel. “Yeah. I do.”

“Me, too.” I shift on the seat. This next part is more difficult. “She’s still your Bride. They can’t deny access to you.”

“She won’t come back here as queen. There’s no fucking way. It would never work.”

“You’re right. She won’t.”

It doesn’t take him long to connect the dots. He curses. “You’re really willing to live among the Amazons again after everything? I can’t ask that of you. Monroe sure as fuck won’t.”

The idea isn’t exactly comfortable, but the alternative is a thousand times worse. I take a slow breath. “It wasn’t the entire Amazon faction responsible for what happened to me. The people who hurt me have been punished. Gods, Broderick, she went after her own mother on my behalf. If the other Amazons are like Monroe, I think we’ll do just fine.”

“If the other Amazons are like Monroe, I don’t know if I’ll survive it,” he mutters. But his grip has loosened on the steering wheel. “Are you sure? I don’t know if this is a decision we can change our minds about after the fact. If we go to her with the intent of staying, we’ll be under suspicion every time we interact with the Raiders.”

I think about Iris, about Maddox and Cohen and the others I’ve become friends with over the years. They’ve been a family of sorts, and if that means there’s a new distance between us, I don’t think it will break those relationships entirely. How novel. “What about you? You’re Abel’s second-in-command. That’s not exactly an easy position to fill.”

“You’d be surprised.” He stares out the windshield for a long moment. “Be sure, Shiloh. If we do this, there’s no going back.”

“I’m sure if you are.”

Another, longer stream of curses. “Well, shit, guess I better go talk to my brother.”

Abel must have seen that our conversation was finished, because he ambles over. Broderick rolls down the window. “You’re not going to like this.”

“Strangest thing.” Abel looks at him and then at me. “I just got word that Monroe Rhodius is stepping up as queen of the Amazons. This have anything to do with what went down this morning?” He focuses on me. “Glad you’re okay, Shiloh.”

“Me, too.”

Broderick nods slowly. “Yeah, it has to do with that. I’ll fill you in later, but the bottom line is that she’s my Bride, and I’m not willing to give that up, queen or no. Donovan can take over my duties. It will even be good for him—he’s spent too fucking long floating through life. It’s time he took on some responsibility.”

Abel studies him. “So you’re really going.”

“Yeah, I’m really going.”