He smiled.“You sparkle without trying, even when you’re scowling, love.”
“Oh, hush,” Syndra said, already scanning the clearing.
Her stomach flipped the instant she saw who stood at its center.
Lisa and Rezer.
Son of a biscuit eater, of course they’d be here together.Because the universe loved to kick her in the gut even after landing undignified on her knees.
She started forward, Tamsin and Oakley flanking her.Oakley moved with coiled tension, shoulders set, every step precise.He was growing into his power the way young warriors did, quietly, painfully, with purpose, and Syndra felt the familiar tug of pride and worry twist together in her chest.
Lisa turned, eyes widening before relief broke through her composure.“Syndra?”
Syndra threw her arms wide.“Surprise!We brought snacks.And by ‘snacks,’ I mean sarcasm and deeply concerning questions.”
“Hello to you, too,” Lisa said dryly.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Syndra replied, already pulling her into a fierce, grounding hug.For one brief heartbeat, neither of them breathed.Syndra felt the tremor in Lisa’s hands, the echo of something vast and ugly brushing too close to her friend.
Then Syndra leaned back and assessed her like a battlefield medic.“You’re not bleeding.Good start.”
“I don’t bleed every time you’re not around.”
“You say that,” Syndra replied, “but history disagrees.”
Tamsin stepped forward, posture formal without being stiff.His nod to Rezer was respectful—but cautious.“Trouble,” he said evenly.“I’m thinking that’s what we should start calling you.”
Rezer looked like a man holding himself together through sheer refusal.“Sir will do.”
“Oh, good,” Syndra said.“You’ve still got your sense of humor.That was one of the things that had me rooting for you and not Tony.Though Tony definitely has a sense of humor, he’s not as edgy as you.Lisa needs edgy.The crazy ones always need someone even a tad more unhinged than themselves.”
Rezer’s mouth twitched.“So you’re saying Tamsin’s an absolute crackpot?”
Lisa groaned.“Both of you, stop.”
Oakley moved then, stepping past Tamsin and stopping a few feet from Rezer.His expression was level, but his jaw was locked tight.
“I didn’t like you when I met you the first time in this forest,” he said.“And I can’t say that I’m any more fond of you now, seeing you here next to this door pulsing with angry magic, next to my mom.”
Rezer inclined his head.“You don’t have to like me.You’re not the one I’m courting.”
“Rezer,” Lisa snapped.“He’s my son.”
“I know who he is, love,” he said, his words more gentle as he spoke to her.“But I’ve done nothing to earn his disrespect and as a warrior, he should know better.”He met Oakley’s eyes and to Syndra’s pride, Oakley didn’t back down.“I will treat her with the respect and love she deserves.I will protect her with my life.And I will love her till the end of my days.But it isherchoice to be with me.Not yours.”
Lisa shifted instinctively, caught between being a mother and the woman of a new suitor.
The two males continued to stare at one another for several heartbeats before Oakley finally nodded.“If she wants to be with you, and she’s happy, then I won’t try to stop her.But if you hurt her, I will use every skill I’ve been taught to gut you and watch you die a slow, painful death.”
Oakley’s threat hung in the air, sharp and earned.
Syndra didn’t interrupt.She let it stand.Some boundaries mattered, and this was one of them.
Rezer inclined his head once, solemn.“Understood.”
Good, Syndra thought.No posturing.No offended pride.Just acceptance.That alone nudged him half a step up in her mental ranking ofdangerous men Lisa inexplicably attracts.
The stone door behind them pulsed, slow, deliberate.Not a threat.A reminder.
