At last. Maks balanced the covered plate he carried and rolled his shoulders. Fatigue lay over him like a fine coating of dust, but he’d finally struck a deal with the spider. Ari’s suite lay at the top of the staircase he climbed. She’d be his bride soon. Technically they were joined already. He had made her cookies to celebrate and, if he were being honest, in hopes she would look on him with the affection he craved. If cookies didn’t work she’d be happy to know Corbel and Trajan had ridden up on her Vespa an hour ago. The news would surely earn him a smile. Lovely returner. And to think she believed herself a liar because she’d kept his parents’ statue and thus him with her through the night. Ariana Golde did not know her own power. There’d been no lie—she’d tricked him for his own good and gifted him with the confidence to utilize his chaos magick without limits. Destruction and creation were one. He understood it now. And in making him a better man she had also blessed him with a wife.
