Aspen has gone slightly pink. “Can we not—”
“She sounded happy,” Finn continues, ignoring him completely. “That’s the important thing. Very, very happy. Repeatedly.”
Darian flushes. But there’s something else there now — something that looks almost like pride.
“She was loud because I’m talented, Finn.”
The cave goes silent.
Then Torric laughs — a real laugh, not the sharp bark he uses when he’s angry. Aspen makes a choked sound that might be a giggle. Even Kieran’s mouth curves into something that’s almost a smile.
Finn clutches his chest dramatically. “He’sback. The arrogant bastard is back.”
“I’m not arrogant.” Darian’s chin lifts. “I’m accurate.”
“You cried earlier,” Aspen points out. “You don’t get to be confident yet.”
Darian throws a pebble at him. Aspen catches it without looking, frost crackling across his fingers.
“Alright, but seriously—” Finn’s voice softens. “She’s okay because of you. The bond purified. The corruption broke. That’s not nothing.”
Darian looks at Kaia’s sleeping form. Something complicated moves across his face.
“She chose me,” he says quietly. “Even knowing what I was. What I did.”
“She chose all of us,” I correct. “That’s the point.”
The fire pops. Shadows dance across the cave walls. And for a moment, we’re not six men with complicated histories and tangled loyalties and a Valkyrie who’s rewriting everything we thought we knew about bonds.
We’re just… us.
“So.” Finn stretches again, settling more comfortably against the cave floor. “Since we’re apparently having feelings around the campfire — who wants to compare notes?”
Torric stiffens. “Comparewhat?”
“You know.” Finn waggles his eyebrows. “Notes. Observations. Kaia-related data.”
“Absolutely not,” Aspen says.
“I’m genuinely curious though.” Finn props himself up on one elbow. “She’s different with each of us, right? I felt it through the bond. Like she… shifts. Adapts.”
The question hangs in the air.
I should shut this down. It’s inappropriate. Invasive. The kind of conversation that could go wrong in a hundred different ways.
But Torric speaks first.
“She’s softer with Aspen.” His voice is rough. Almost grudging. “Gentler. Like she’s afraid of breaking him.”
“I noticed that too,” Aspen admits. “She holds back. Worries about my control.”
“With me, she’s—” Torric stops. His jaw works. “Wilder. Like she doesn’t have to be careful.”
“Because you can take it,” Finn says. No teasing this time. Just observation.
Torric nods once.
“She laughs with Finn.” Darian’s voice is quiet. “Even when things are terrible. He makes her laugh.”
