Torric has stretched out like a cat in a sunbeam, his massive frame taking up more than his fair share of space. The tension he’s been carrying since his father has finally unwound. He looks younger like this. Less like a weapon waiting to fire.
Aspen watches everything with those ice-blue eyes, cataloging and calculating. But there’s something softer in his expression tonight. Something almost hopeful.
Kieran’s gaze keeps drifting to Kaia like she’s a star he’s spent centuries orbiting but never quite reaching. The longing in his face is ancient. Patient. The kind of want that’s learned not to push.
Ironic, considering.
And Darian’s magic keeps flickering under the water. Nervous. Uncertain. Like he doesn’t know how to exist in a space where no one’s demanding anything from him.
An Ed drifts past his shoulder.
He flinches.
The Ed bobs past Darian’s arm, then floats away.
He watches it go with obvious suspicion.
“They’re curious,” Kaia says, noticing his tension. “They won’t hurt you.”
“I’m not worried about them hurting me,” Darian mutters. “I’m worried about them… existing. Near me. Constantly.”
“Welcome to my life,” Finn says cheerfully.
Darian sinks a little lower.
I stretch, adjusting my position in the water. Casual. Natural.
My calf brushes against Kaia’s ankle.
She goes still.
It could be an accident. The pool is crowded. Bodies in close proximity. These things happen.
But I don’t move away. I let the contact linger — light, barely there, but unmistakable.
Her ankle presses back. Just slightly. A question, maybe. Or an answer.
I keep my face neutral. Above the surface, nothing changes.
Below it, everything does.
“The berserker murals were definitely the most dramatic,” Finn is saying. “All that fire and ice andraw masculine energy—”
“Are you mocking us?” Torric asks.
“I would never.”
“You’re absolutely mocking us.”
“I’mappreciating. There’s a difference.”
Aspen sighs — the long-suffering sigh of someone who’s spent his entire life managing his brother’s intensity and Finn’s chaos. “Can we not?”
“We can never ‘not,’” Finn says solemnly. “It’s against my religion.”
Kaia laughs again, and I feel the vibration of it through the water. Through the place where our legs are still touching.
She doesn’t move away.
