TRADING MY CHEATING HUSBAND FOR THE LYCAN KING novel Chapter 174

CHAPTER 119: WHEN SO MUCH IS ON THE LINE–1

EMBER’S POV

Dinner comes together faster than I expected – some kind of pasta dish with roasted vegetables and garlic bread that fills the safehouse with smells rich enough to make my stomach cramp with hunger.

I didn’t realize how empty I was until the food was in front of me.

We eat at the small table, all four of us crammed together, and for a little while it almost feels normal.

Like we’re just friends sharing a meal, not fugitives hiding out in a safehouse while enemies circle and conspiracies unravel.

Queenie chatters about the Summit, about Rayana holding down the fort, about a hundred small pieces of gossip that don’t matter but help fill the silence.

She’s good at that – filling silences. Making spaces feel warmer than they are.

Knox sits close to me, his thigh pressed against mine under the table.

Every so often his hand finds my knee, squeezes, like he needs to keep reminding himself I’m here. That

I’m real. That I didn’t disappear while he wasn’t looking.

And I lean into him. Let my head rest against his shoulder between bites. Steal food off his plate just to watch him pretend to be annoyed – that little furrow between his brows, the exasperated sigh that doesn’t

hide his smile.

We’re disgusting. The kind of couple I used to roll my eyes at in restaurants.

Too wrapped up in each other to notice the rest of the world, too obsessed to care how obnoxious we’re

being.

I don’t care.

Queenie catches my eye at one point and makes a face that clearly says ‘you two are revolting and I for

ľ and I laugh for the first time in what feels like forever.

A real laugh. The kind that comes from somewhere deep and surprises you on its way out.

But under the warmth and the normalcy, something is nagging at me. A splinter in my mind I can’t stop

worrying at.

After dinner, while Knox and Nathaniel clean up – bickering quietly about the proper way to load a dishwasher like an old married couple – Queenie and I end up on the couch with glasses of wine.

She’s telling me some ridiculous story about a mishap at the Summit involving Rayana and a very confused waiter, and I’m laughing, but my mind keeps drifting to darker places.

Until I can’t hold it in anymore.

< CHAPTER 19 WHEN SO MUCH IS ON THE LINE–1

“Queenie.” My voice comes out quieter than I intended. “I want to ask you something. And I want you to be honest with me.”

She takes a sip of her wine, unbothered.

“Fine. Yes, I got a nose job when I was eighteen. And yes, it was the best decision I ever made. This-” she gestures at her face “-is a work of art and I’m not ashamed to admit it.”

I laugh despite myself. “I’m being serious.”

Something in my tone makes her sober. The playfulness drains from her expression, replaced by something more cautious. More guarded.

“Okay,” she says slowly. “What is it?”

I take a breath. “Are we really friends?”

She blinks at me like I’ve asked if the sky is blue.

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