Page 120 of Ashes of Honor

“Whatever,” Hunter said with a sharp, bemused laugh.

“You know what?” Reina crossed her arms. “Story time’s over. Y’all don’t deserve the rest.”

“Thank God,” Riley mumbled.

That earned him a smirk from Tomoe. The two of them shared a slight tap of their hands that did not slip Reina’s notice.

“Okay, not nice,” she snapped, but the corners of her mouth twitched in amusement.

“At least she didn’t stop for a pair of heels this time,” I said with a huffed laugh.

Alexiares choked on his refill of coffee. “She did what?”

There was no such thing as too much caffeine for either of us. It was basically foreplay for a good night’s rest at this point.

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Riley jumped in, a mischievous grin lighting up his face.

Tomoe jumped at the chance. “Bonnie and Clyde here were out on a run, and Reina?—”

“I tracked them the whole time,” Reina interrupted with a wild cackle, barely able to contain her energy. “Firing arrows at leaves, bottles, whatever I could find. They both thought the other was messing with them when they weren’t looking. Classic.”

Riley groaned, shaking his head, locs flying, like he’d relived this moment far too many times. “You almost got us killed.”

“Oh, please.” Reina waved him off.

“When I realized it wasn’t him?—”

“Werealized at the same time,” Riley interrupted, a knowing glint flashing in his eyes.

“We changed our route, ducked into a store, and waited for her to round the corner,” I added, dryly. “Not exactly rocket science, but it worked.”

“Worked too well. We were supposed to?—”

“Not sure who wears heeled boots on a scouting mission,” I interrupted with a laugh. “But I digress.”

“They were Lockette Beatle Valentino’s, thank you very much,” Reina shot back like we weren’t quite grasping her point of view. “And I wasn’t wearing them when I left! I found them. What was I supposed to do? Leave them there to rot?”

“You would’ve saved yourself the joy of having to heal your own wound,” Riley said, smirking now.

“Ouch,” Hunter muttered, wincing in sympathy. He knew from experience that healing yourself was a great pain.

Reina shrugged, her grin as sharp as ever. “Worth every second of it.”

“It’s an apocalypse.” Serenity cut in full of disbelief.

Reina shot back with a teasing grin, “That doesn’t mean I have to be ugly, Serenity,” her tone light and full of playful defiance.

The whole room broke into laughter. Only Reina could make vanity sound as important as basic survival.

“We were stuck in Del Monte Shopping Center all night,” Riley explained casually, his hand squeezed Yasmin’s shoulder with gentle affection and she glanced down, cheeks reddening with her smile. “Surrounded by a herd of at least fifty Pansies.”

“Crazy to think I thought I couldn’t handle that back then,” I mumbled more to myself than to anyone else.

Emma tilted her head, her expression skeptical. “You really think you could now?”

“Obviously,” Elie cut in before I could answer. “She’sher.”

“Yeah, right,” Serenity shot back. “You’re good, but notthatgood.”

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