He kisses me again, and this time when we part, he takes my hand to lead me down the rocks.
“Come on, angel. I made this snow for my birthday girl,” he says.
“No, you didn’t,” I laugh. “It fell because you can’t control your emotions.”
“Do you remember the first time I kissed you? When you thought it was raining?”
I nod.
“You took me by surprise, and I was so overwhelmed with you that I couldn’t stop my magic from flowing over. You do that to me. I can’t control anything around you.”
A ball of snow and sand hits Blaze in the face the moment we hit the sand. I burst out laughing. Blaze releases me to make his own snowballs to throw at his brother, and as I stand there, cackling and yelping at their antics, I glance down the beach to find families making their way onto the beach to do the same.
We play, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt this light.
Watching them throw snow at each other with wild precision, wearing my tight leggings, North in a cropped sweatshirt, and Blaze in one of my holiday shirts, I have to laugh at how unserious all of it looks.
And they’re all mine.
After a while, North falls into the sand in surrender. He waves his brother off, pretending to have a white flag, and Blaze continues playing with Pack instead.
I settle onto the sand with North, chuckling when he curls into me and lays his head on my lap.
“How is my birthday girl?” he asks as he holds my hand on his chest.
“Tired. Sore in the best way.” I smile down at him. “You look ridiculous in my clothes.”
“I think you love it,” he says, smirking at me.
He’s right. “I do,” I breathe.
My gaze wanders to Blaze and Pack again, the dog jumping and nipping at him like she was doing with North minutes earlier.
“I think she loves you both as much as I do,” I say.
North stiffens slightly, but sits up. I consider his suddenly serious face, and I wonder if mentioning that word to him was too much. He opens his mouth, but when no words come out, I interject instead.
“Tell me about the spell,” I say. “All Blaze has said is that it hides me, that to any other creature from the Nether Realm, I’ll appear as one of you.”
“Something like that. It’ll cover you in our magic. You’ll be tattooed in ice and snow symbols like the ones we have around our necks,” he replies.
My brows lift. “I’m getting new tattoos?”
He scoffs. “Does that excite you?”
“I love new tattoos.”
Another chuckle leaves him. “I know you were wary about not getting a choice in this. But one thing this spell won’t take from you is your decision to eventually become immortally ours. One of us. It hides you from the others, but you’re still mortal.”
“That’s an option?” I ask.
“One day,” he answers.
“Is that… What happens if I choose that instead?” I ask.
“I don’t think Blaze is confident in his magic enough yet to try it. I think that’s why he’s insisting on the other.”
“He hasn’t told you?”
