Page 135 of A Light in the Dark
“I think I can handle that much. Can I wine and dine you tomorrow night before convincing you in bed?”
As it had been at least a week since we’d last gone on a date, I nodded. “Wining and dining as you acknowledge my status as the true pirate queen would be nice.”
“If it means we can finish this tournament, I would be pleased to wine and dine the true pirate queen, especially if I get to make the true pirate queen my wife.”
“I want a wedding with a bunch of luna moths.”
He laughed. “We’ll plan it for when we know there’ll be a hatch and host it at my parents’ place. They’ll love it, and you’ll have all the luna moths you could ever want in attendance, thus allowing our flutter to attend in human shape.”
“I suppose that would work.”
Joel’s larvae had gone into their cocoons to become luna moths, he’d gotten a chance to breed a handful of color morphs, and their eggs had gone to his parents for care. The color morphs had lived their lives out in my basement, and they’d joined Joel’s beloved collection of preserved moths.
While short, their lives had been sweet, and they’d been given every security and comfort we could.
To simplify matters, Joel conference called Allasandro and Calden. “We finish this, you furry bastards. Meet me outside Valerie’s fortress, and we’ll settle this once and for all.”
“Oh, we’re going for a duel, are we?” Moonriver’s leader asked, and the man snickered. In the background, I heard his partner, one of the women who’d enrolled to be a date, laugh.
She then said, “This was not what I was expecting when I joined up hoping for a date, but I’ll admit, this is rather fun.”
“But are you going to actually date him?” I asked, well aware the wolf shifter was the definition of skittish and the woman had the patience of a saint.
“At this stage, I think it’s going to take force, but I’ve worked my way into gaming in his house, so that’s something. Have any recommendations, Valerie?”
“A leash. I hear it worked for Calden and Coraline.”
The couple in question burst into laughter.
“Do what you want with Dad, Helen, just leave him alive when you’re finished with him.”
“My, what a high bar. Any other requests?”
“A sibling would be nice.”
I snickered while Allasandro spluttered.
“I think I’ll start with the leash and see how it goes from there,” the woman replied. “Allasandro, go to that fortress already. Calden promised he’d help me start my town on the live servers when you’re busy working. Coraline’s going to make her own town, too.”
Moonriver’s leader sighed. “Do you know what’s going to happen if I step out of that forest, Helen?”
“Death and destruction come to mind.”
“Oh, you’re already in the forest, Allasandro?” I asked.
“Calden and I may have forged a temporary truce trying to take you and Joel out. It’s not a loss if I’m working with my son.”
“Prove it,” I demanded. “A signal flare from each of you. Calden, you get pink. Allasandro, purple. At the count of twenty.”
I counted to twenty, and sure enough, the men were in my woods within plenty of range to be destroyed by my artillery fire.
Without missing a beat, I pressed the appropriate buttons to trigger the apocalypse, leveling the entirety of the forest and the surrounding landscape. According to the game, I’d gotten everyone except Joel, who’d emerged with his health bar in critical condition.
If I didn’t go help him, he’d bleed out on the battlefield.
As I was a cruel pirate queen, I waited for him to die before I made use of my glider to bypass my minefield, enter the smoldering ruins of the forest, and loot the corpses. “Long live the pirate queen!” I clapped for myself between searching the bodies for their resources while listening to the complaints of everyone around me.
“That was not nice,” Joel informed me. “You killed me, too!”
