And I don’t know if that’s because she’s giving me space or because I finally fucked this up beyond repair.
I dig my claws into the soil, exhaling through my nose as I press down around the roots of a honeyfruit vine. The gardenbehind the meadery is quiet this time of day, the air thick with the scent of earth and nectar, warm sunlight filtering through the high canopy of golden-leaved trees. The vines curl along the trellises, the blossoms fat with pollen, and the Jotun bees hum lazily from flower to flower, wings fluttering.
It should be peaceful. It should be grounding.
But my hands are shaking.
I curl my fingers into fists, ignoring the way my stomach twists, the way my chest feels too tight. I tell myself it’s nothing. That I got what I wanted—space, clarity, time to shove my feelings back into the box where they belong.
“Think the soil is finally going to behave or do you think you need to give it a good spank?” a voice says from behind me.
I growl under my breath, glancing over my shoulder.
“Davrin,” I grunt.
My younger brother is standing behind me, arms crossed, his beekeeper’s cowl around his shoulders. Since taking a year off from school so he could galavant around the galaxy, he’s come back and is working at the meadery…seemingly only to annoy me. He’s got a stupid grin on his face that tells me he knows something I don’t—and I don’t like it one bit.
“What do you want?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything.
He leans casually against the wooden fence bordering the garden. “Oh, nothing much,” he drawls. “Just thought you might want to know you’ve got a visitor.”
I frown, brushing the dirt from my hands. “I don’t get visitors.”
He shrugs. “Okay—then maybe she’s here to see me. Pretty human, golden hair, brown eyes…”
My head snaps toward him.
“Thought that would get your attention,” he snickers.
“She’s…” I pause, already well aware that my reaction has given away too much to my meddling younger brother. “She’s here?”
“Yep—inside,” he continues. “Chatting with Ivarr, Flora, and Pan. She even brought gifts.”
“Just…she just showed up?” I ask, like I still can’t comprehend the fact that Iris isherein the Arboriumat my family home.
“Mmhm.”
I exhale sharply, pushing both hands through my hair and getting it absolutely full of soil. I haven’t seen Iris since that night in Mythara—since I spilled my guts to her, since she told me she wanted me to take her home, since she kissed me…
…since I broke her door and ran away like a coward.
“Did she say why she’s here?” I ask.
“To see you,” Davrin snorts. “And of course Ivarr and Flora arefullof questions, given that you spent ten years with this human female and never bothered to introduce us after you came home.”
I wince. “Does she seem angry?”
Davrin just grins. “Nope. Seems real cozy, actually. Like she’s already part of the family. Pan’s basically decided she’s his new favorite aunt, Ivarr’s saying you’re going to bake for her, and Flora is very interested in why they’ve never met.”
I groan. My sister-in-law is relentless when it comes to my love life—and this is no exception. Flora is the only one I told about the incident when I stumbled home drunk after leaving her apartment in Mythara, and now she’stalking to Iris.
“Guess I’d better go and see my guest then,” I say through gritted teeth.
Davrin laughs, and I wonder if Flora actually kept my secret or if they’re all playing matchmaker now. “Guess you should.”
I stride toward the house, Davrin at my heels, until I reach the rich wooden door. The house is glowing with afternoon light, sunbeams slanting through the stained glass windows, dust motes swirling. The scent of honey, warm wood, and summer fruit fills the air…along with the most delicious scent in the galaxy.
Iris.
