“You weren’t. I had no clue, either,” Henry says to my surprise. It seems like he is rather short and serious, but also very honest.
“Well, whatever it is,” Annie says, beaming at me. “I am so happy you are part of the family now, Gwen.”
“I agree, welcome,” Marius says. “Now, the only one missing is Dario’s mate.” Dario’s eyes widen, and he looks almost anxious. “Oh fuck!” Marius says. “Forget me and my big mouth. I was just thinking aloud. You have all the time you need.”
“He is right,” Liam says. “I was in my mid-twenties when I met Annie.”
“Finn and I were in our twenties, too,” Marius says.
“Henry and Tony were pretty young, though,” Dario muses.
“Yes, we were nineteen,” Tony says. “But I am with Marius; there is no right or wrong age.”
“I was eighteen,” Marcellus says with a grin.
“Oh, Creator, have mercy,” Silas groans. “Don’t remind me.”
“Imagine my surprise when I realized how old my vampire mate was,” Marcellus adds. “I must have secretly had a thing for the age gap.”
“No, seriously.“ Silas narrows his eyes to a glare. “One more word or…”
A smirk curls Marcellus’s lips. “Or what?”
Silas’s eyebrow ticks. When I met him earlier, he seemed like the type of person who would always have the upper hand, but I guess everyone has a weak spot.
“That’s what you get for having such a young lover,” Flora says mercilessly.
Silas frowns. “Thank you, Luna Flora.”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure!”
“How old were you and Uncle Elden?” Henry asks. “I think you were pretty young, too, weren’t you? Dad hinted at it once.”
Flora turns to look at Elden. The latter shrugs. “Depends on what you want to know. When Flora and I knew we were mates, or when the mate bond was strong enough for us to mark each other?”
“That’s a weird question,” Silas says. “Why are you phrasing it like that? How old were you when you knew you were mates?”
“I think I was eight years old,” Elden says.
“I was a year younger,” Flora adds.
At that, my mouth drops open. Fortunately, some others look equally shocked. I guess only their closest family knew about it. “How is that possible?!” Henry gasps. “I have never heard of such a thing!”
“Well, you have now,” Elden points out. “There was a weird prophecy,” he pauses. “And... some other things we can’t talk about.”
“It’s truly intriguing,” Arden says, his voice low and thoughtful. It seems like his mind is suddenly far away. Felix told me he is particularly smart, so maybe he is already making up his own theories.
My mate is still holding my hand, but now looks around. “Where is Celine?” he asks.
His words pull my attention back from the whole mate-talk to our current reality. “And Faye!”
“They went ahead to visit Marina,” Marius explains. “She is stable at the moment, and-“ he sighs. “Faye wanted to see her so badly.”
I can only imagine. Celine promised her she would go with her, and apparently stuck to her promise. She is amazing.
“Gwen,” Annie says. “I didn’t want to just accompany Celine and Faye without your permission, but may I see Marina formyself? Just for a brief moment. I won’t stay for long, just…” her voice trails off.
Someone as warm and gentle as Annie? “Of course,” I say.
