Drunk on joy, I beamed at everyone until Ezra nudged me with his hip. He nodded toward the other end of the room
I spotted Kai and Izzah first. She was leaning into his chest, her arms around his waist and—I grinned—her hands tucked in his back pockets. He was listening to her, focused entirely on her face, and I wish I had my phone out to snap a picture of his gooey expression. He was melted ice cream in her expert hands.
Then I spotted the other, far more unexpected couple only a few paces away. Aaron had his head bent toward Sabrina as she explained something animatedly. Eyes widening, she threw her arms up—and he tossed his head back in a laugh.
My eyebrows rose—then shot ever higher as he leaned toward her and said something that made her burst into peals of laughter too.
Were my eyes deceiving me, or were those two flirting? And even more shocking—Sabrina hadn’t pulled out her phone for a round of bunny photos.
“Interesting,” I purred. “Very interesting.”
Ezra chuckled, his chest vibrating with the sound. “Don’t get too excited. Aaron’s dating history is against him.”
“Oh, come on. Sabrina is adorable. His parents will love her.” Laughing at his dubious expression, I slid away from Ezra’s warm arm, circled behind the bar, and ducked beneath the counter.
Reappearing with a silver gift bag topped with white tissue paper, I held it out to him. “Happy birthday, Ezra!”
His eyes lit up, and he slid the bag closer. He hesitated, the tissue paper pinched between two fingers. Then he plucked the paper out, reached inside, and withdrew his gift.
It was a photo album, the leather cover patterned with musical notation. He flipped it open and blinked to find the first page empty.
“Next page,” I suggested.
He turned it to the following page and blinked again at the two tickets tucked behind the protective plastic.
“The album is for photos of all the concerts we’re going to go see,” I told him, inexplicably nervous as I watched his unreadable poker face. “And those are tickets to our first one—the biggest folk music festival in the country!”
He carefully set the album down on the counter. Then he leaned across it, wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, and pulled our mouths together. His kiss was everything I’d ever wanted—fiery passion, sweet promise, and a helluva lot of heat.
Was the party over yet? Because I wanted my man back in my bed, like, now.
Sinking my hand into his hair, I deepened our kiss, my tongue flirting with his—and a loud cheer went up, swiftly spreading through the entire pub. Reluctantly, I straightened as my guildmates whooped and catcalled us.
“Hey, you’re doing gifts without us!” Aaron zoomed to Ezra’s side, digging in his pocket. “Happy birthday, man.”
He dropped a white envelope on the open photo album, the “gift” decorated with a slightly crumpled gold bow. Ezra opened the top and slid out a packet of plane tickets.
“First class!” Aaron boasted. “Round trip for your music festival.”
“What?” I gasped. “No way! Thank you, Aaron.”
“Don’t forget my gift.” Kai slid into the spot on Ezra’s other side and handed the aeromage a folded piece of paper. He hadn’t bothered with a bow. “Hotel reservations.”
Aaron rolled his eyes. “You’re supposed to let him open it, Kai, not just tell him what it is.”
“It’s a hotel reservation printout. Not very glamorous.” He canted a look at me—his smoldering, woman-melting look. “But your room will be very glamorous, I promise.”
I grinned so broadly my cheeks hurt. “Thank you, guys. This is the best gift ever.”
“It’s not your gift, Tori.” Aaron gave me a stern stare. “It’s Ezra’s. And it’s totally up to him who he brings as his plus-one.”
My gaze swung to Ezra. He thoughtfully tapped the plane tickets back into the envelope.
“Choices, choices,” he murmured.
“Ezra,” I growled.
His grin flashed, and he leaned across the bar again to plant a kiss on my scowl. “Of course I’m bringing you.”
“Of course.” I stuck my tongue out at Aaron.
He stuck his tongue out back at me, then pointed behind the bar. “You got the rest of his gift?”
“Oh, right!”
Ezra watched bemusedly as I dove through the saloon doors and reappeared a second later with a three-foot-long black case. I heaved it up on the counter beside the photo album and turned it toward him.
“Ta-da!” I said.
A grin was already spreading over Ezra’s face. He didn’t need to open it to know what was inside, but he flipped the thick clasps up and lifted the lid anyway. Nestled in black foam, a pair of short swords with equal length silver blades and black hilts shone under the overhead lights, the two weapons designed to fit together into a two-foot-long baton or a four-foot-long double-bladed staff.
“Are these from your blacksmith, Aaron?” Ezra asked with awed disbelief. “The one in Tennessee?”
“Yep. He makes weapons for half the Sinclair Academy mages. No offense to the deceased Twin Terrors, but these are superior blades. They won’t break.”
Ezra ran his hands along the hilts, then closed the lid. Turning to Aaron and Kai with an eager fire in his eyes, he asked, “Tomorrow morning?”
“Afternoon,” Aaron corrected. “I’m not doing a live-blade practice with you while hungover.”
“I suppose.”
Snorting, the pyromage swiveled toward me. “Okay, last gift.”
Panic fizzed through my chest. Another gift? I didn’t know about any other gifts for Ezra! Had I forgotten something? Had he forgotten? What—
“Your gift,” he added.
“Wait, mine? Why am I getting a gift?”
Aaron, Ezra, and Kai exchanged gleefully wicked looks.
“Well, you see …” Aaron began.
“This is actually an important day for you too,” Kai continued.
“Because it’s your guild anniversary,” Ezra finished.
I stared at them. “No, it’s not.”
“It is!” Ezra insisted. “It’s your one-year, one-month, one-week anniversary from your first shift here. Remember?”
Aaron tapped the counter. “I’ll jog your memory: you threw a drink at us.”
I ignored that. “You can’t be serious.”
“We are,” Kai said. “We even got you a—”
Someone screamed.
I whipped toward the sound as mythics surged
