Brumous’ tail gave a tentative wag. The rasp of his tongue over my fingertips carried forgiveness I hadn’t earned.
When the last chicken piece vanished, he gripped my braid with surprising gentleness and tugged. Once. Twice. Not hard, just playful. Almost like he was teasing me.
“Disgustingly sweet.” Zane fake-gagged. “I’m gonna be sick.”
But his hand settled on Brumous’ scruff, and Koa joined the pile, a trio of hardened hunters sheltering one broken creature who loved without limits. As the pup’s warmth seeped into my bones, I made silent vows. To Seri sleeping upstairs, to the brothers flanking me, even to this scarred wolf teaching me how to bend.
“You’re safe here. Arabesque won’t touch you again.”
Brumous tilted his head, and I couldalmosthear the question in his gaze:Promise?
“Yeah,” I said with a curt nod. “She’ll answer for everything she’s done to you and Seri. We’ll make sure of it.”
23. All the Questions
Seri
I cradled a mug of tea, my ankle throbbing dully beneath the table. Brumous lay at my feet as he gnawed on a bone one of the brothers, most likely his favorite accomplice Zane, had given him.
Casimir leaned back from the table, his arms crossed and his green eyes scanning me like I might break if he looked away for too long. Koa was quietly sipping his own tea, the top and sides of his black hair tied up in a top knot, while Zane lounged in his chair, his legs sprawled out, the usual smirk playing on his lips.
“So,” he said, breaking the comfortable silence, “tour time? Or are we just going to stare at Seri all morning? Not that that’s any kind of hardship.”
Casimir shot him a glare, but I felt my cheeks warm.
“I’d love to see more of Evermere,” I said, setting my mug down. “But Simmy said I needed to rest my ankle.”
“We’ll carry you,” Koa said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
As if on cue, Casimir stood and strode over, scooping me up before I could protest. I let out a squeak of surprise, my arms instinctively looping around his neck.
“The hell is that?!” Zane’s shout from behind us made me jump, and Casimir tightened his hold as my heart raced.
“Why are you yelling, pest?” Koa rumbled as he came over and rubbed his hand up and down my back.
“Answer me, Serafina!” Zane’s voice came out even louder, and I shook a little. He hadn’t hurt me yet, but loud often came with pain. Eluned especially liked to scream whenever she hurt me.
“I don’t…” My lungs sped up now, too, as if competing with my heart. “Know what…”
“This!” he snarled.
Next thing I knew, he’d unlooped my outside arm from Casimir’s neck and held my fingers with one hand and shoved up my sweater sleeve with the other, his gingerbread eyes fixed on the bruise running around my wrist like an amethyst bracelet. Casimir’s body turned to steel, his arms like iron bars under me, and I knew just from how his breathing changed that he was furious.
“Beloved?” Koa’s palm paused in the small of my back. “That wasn’t there before. What happened?”
His voice might have been exquisitely gentle in my ear, but that only told me he, too, was angry.
Knowing all three of them were mad made it harder to control the panic. My lungs burned. I couldn’t seem to get a proper breath. I wasn’t back with the Harrows, not really, but I was also nothere. Zane’s shout had knocked something loose, like a pane of glass betweennowandthenhad cracked open. My vision tunneled a little. My pulse throbbed at the base of my skull.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered, not sure who I was talking to. “I’m sorry.”
Casimir sank into the chair behind him with me still in his arms, and his hand moved to cradle the back of my head. As his fingers curled in my hair, I felt them tremble and wondered why.
“You’re okay,” he murmured. “You didn’t do anything wrong, my love. We know. You’re okay.”
“She’s shaking.” Koa crouched beside us. His hand skimmed down to my wrist, the one Zane had uncovered. “You can’t yell at her like that, Z.”
“I wasn’t—” Zane’s voice was tight. “I didn’t mean to yell at her. I just sawthatand I—”
