I turned to Seri, a grin tugging at my lips.
“All right, darling. You’re eating this.”
She looked up, her eyes both wary and weary.
“Just a few bites, please,” Ko murmured. “You need it.”
“I can feed myself.” Her voice wavered like a bad radio signal.
“Yeah? I’d like to see you try without face-planting in the bowl.” I plopped down right next to her, ignoring Cas’ death glare when she skittered back a foot. “C’mon, sweetheart, it’s chicken noodle. Soup of champions. Ko made it just for you.”
She stared at the steam ribbons coiling upward. For a heartbeat, I thought she’d bolt. Then those slender fingers wrapped around the bowl, tentative as baby bunnies.
Ko mouthed,Be careful,over her head.
I shot him the bird.
As I held up a spoonful, she hesitated, then parted her cracked lips. The first swallow hit her throat wrong, and violent coughing sprayed broth across my chest.
“Epic fail,” I muttered, dabbing her chin with the hem of my t-shirt. “New rule, blossom. You chew liquids.”
Koa snorted. Casimir pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Sorry,” she rasped, face flaming.
“It’s all good, Rapunzel.”
The second spoonful went down smoother. By the fifth, her death grip on the bowl eased.
As she slurped the soup, I began to notice things. Things I was sure Cas had already catalogued. How she leaned away when one of us shifted. How her gaze kept snagging on the door handle as if she were calculating sprint times. How her shy eyes dropped every time they met mine or one of my brothers. Classic prey animal tells. Except when she looked at Brumous. Then her eyes went feral-level protective.
Yeah, meeting a trio of infamous dhampir monster hunters would make most people want to run screaming, but this was something else. She was a puzzle, this delicate, skittish creature, and I was damn determined to figure her out.
“You’re jumpy,” I observed, watching her carefully. Then, my voice took on a teasing lilt. “What, never been around men before, honey bunny? Or is it just me being devastatingly handsome?”
Her eyes flicked up, wide and cautious, before dropping again. She shrugged, her shoulders barely moving.
“I, um, I only had Papa. Well, there was Ralph, our neighbor, but I only saw him a couple of times a year.”
We traded another look over her head, and this one held a whole conversation that happened faster than words.
“What about school?” Ko asked after a moment.
“I didn’t go to a real school.” Her eyelids drooped, her voice dragging, and she pushed the soup bowl away. “After Mama died, Papa and I rarely left our little farm.”
Koa’s, “I’m sorry about your mama,” was soft, like he was uncovering a secret, and in a way he was. We were learning more about her, which we were all desperate to do. Cas frowned, his brow furrowing. I, on the other hand, couldn’t resist teasing her just a little.
“Our beloved is such a cute little farm girl.”
Her cheeks flamed red, and my chest did this weird little flip thing that it had never done before in my life.
Huh. Maybe I need an EKG.
“So, ah, who did this to you?” I asked after a beat. “Who hurt you, treasure?”
The air in the room shifted, like a storm rolling in. Casimir went still, his green eyes cutting sharp. Koa’s gaze softened and tightened at the same time. Seri’s body tensed, her breath catching.
“We need to know,” Ko told her quietly. “So we can better protect you.”
