“You’re ruining this for me,” Tavia said to him. “This is the last night we have before we head into battle and all you can do is be a cocky little git.”

Wesley stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. “Are you done being mad at me?” he asked. “Or should I go to bed and let you be dramatic on your own?”

Many Gods, Tavia wanted to punch him in the face.

“You think this is dramatic?” she said. “You’re the one who left me in the middle of a self-imploding island. One moment you were there and then suddenly you were just gone. You ran off with Zekia and I didn’t know if you were dead or alive, or if you were ever coming back. That was dramatic.”

“It wasn’t my first choice of strategies,” Wesley said. “And like I told you before, I don’t die. Haven’t you heard that demons have nine lives? Or is that cats?”

Tavia didn’t hesitate to lean over and push him.

Hard.

Harder, even, than she had meant to.

Wesley stumbled back a few steps.

“Hey,” he said, dusting off his suit jacket. “What’s wrong with you?”

Tavia wasn’t sure how to answer that. There were so many things wrong with the world, but he was the only thing that made sense—the only part of her life that seemed right anymore—and she was about to lose all of that.

Just as she was close to having everything she wanted—friends, a family, and Wesley—it was going to be stripped away from her.

“Stop making jokes and pretending like this is all a game,” she said. “I’m scared. Don’t you get that? I’m scared and I need you to tell me things are going to be okay.”

When Wesley frowned, a dimple appeared in the center of his brow that Tavia found so unreasonably distracting that she had to look away.

He stepped closer to her, his breath heavy, like he could read every thought going through her mind. When he swallowed, Tavia felt the sound in her bones, and when he lifted his hand to her chin, so her eyes met his again, she felt like every part of her was suddenly primed to fracture.

You’re going to die, she thought. You’re going to die without ever telling him how you feel.

“What’s wrong?” Wesley asked.

“You’re an idiot,” she said. “That’s always what’s wrong. You’re an idiot and I need you to … I just need you.”

Tavia tried to steady her shaking hands. Her shaking everything.

“I need you,” she said again.