Chapter 71

He didn't reply immediately, and when she peered up at him through her fingers, he was gaping, his brows high and eyes wide.

“Oh, Amelia … I'm sorry. I didn't even—”

“Please do not apologize!” she shrilled, mortified. “Things are different here. I get it!”

“I'm so sorry, I forgot to ask like a human—”

“It would not matter, Gabriel. I'm getting so lots more. I mean… how many female get to see a crowd of Chimera display and attempt to… entice them?” she said, her smile in most cases genuine—because it was something she wished she ought to have instructed her friends. They would have flipped. “I'm just glad that we're here collectively and you are secure and… it is fine, Gabriel. Really. It just took me a minute, this is all.”

And it was, she realized. It wasn't fun. It wasn't what she'd dreamed of due to the fact that she was seventeen. But she was going to experience something beyond her dreams. Something