Brayden squeezed Beni’s shoulder, looking down at him fondly. “You saved her, dude. Thankyou.”
“Aww,” said James.
Beni looked between the brothers, seemingly taking them in. He didn’t know many adult men—especially now, Scarlett realized with a pang. Maybe some time with the Maddoxes would be good for him.
“Since we’re introducing ourselves, how’d you get the nickname, Beni?” asked Brayden. “Scarlett told me your real name is Beaufort.”
Beni glared at Scarlett.
She held up her hand. “Sorry!”
Beni turned back to Brayden. “I couldn’t pronounce Beaufortwhen I was little,” he explained. “Normally, Beaux would be the nickname for Beaufort, but with my last name…”
“You would have been Beaux Heroux,” chortled James.
“Exactly,” said Beni. “A rhyming name is not cool. Scarlett came up with Beni. It’s a little random, but it suits me fine.”
“I named him after a cartoon cat,” Scarlett admitted. “I was young.”
“Love it.” Brayden patted him on the back.
“Beaux Heroux,” chuckled Manon.
“Anyhow, Beaux Heroux, should we get out of here?” asked James.
Beni scrunched his nose, feigning annoyance, but he was laughing.
Scarlett looked eagerly at the exit. “That’d be great. I’m desperate for a shower. Manon, can we stay at your house? Is it far from here?”
Manon frowned. “We could, but there’s no food or anything. And in our current state, we might struggle.”
“Is there a hotel nearby?” Scarlett asked Brayden.
“Don’t be silly,” said Brayden. “You’re staying with me. Us.” He handed Manon’s suitcase to James, who began to wheel it toward the exit. Then he looped his arm around Scarlett’s waist, giving her extra support. “We’re taking you home to the castle.”
“Castle?” she managed, but almost all her attention was on his arm around her.
His grip tightened, warm and strong. “You’ll see.”
Outside the station, Brayden and James led them to a massive forest-green SUV and carefully helped Manon into the front passenger seat. James slid into the driver’s seat, while Beni scrambled into the very back, leaving Brayden and Scarlett together in the middle row.
For a few minutes James drove them through tree-packed forest, until gradually the trees thinned out, though they werestill surrounded by plenty ofenormoustrees.
“It’s good to be home,” Manon said from the front seat.
“What’s that?” Beni pointed to a network of bridges high up.
“There are tree houses up there,” said James. “A lot of folks live in the city center, where you’ll find mostly townhouses and such, but a good number live here in the woods. The houses are all twenty feet off the ground and connected by bridges.”
“Why do you have tree houses instead of regular houses?” asked Beni.
“Erm, there used to be dangerous creatures that roamed at night,” said James. “They were unfortunately very good at breaking into buildings, but they couldn’t climb. So tree houses were the solution for the people living further out. It also allowed us to preserve most of the trees instead of clearing the forest for housing.”
“Used to becreatures?” asked Scarlett. “Where’d they go?”
“They’ve been banished to the western woods,” said Brayden. “The magical wards that used to protect only the city have been extended to the tree houses now. You don’t have to worry about anything coming for you here. We’ll keep you safe.”
Dangerous creatures capable of breaking into ground-level houses gave her pause, but her worry quickly dissipated. It was impossible to be scared sitting next to Brayden. He’d never let anything hurt her.
