My heart clenches. “I’d love to take you, but not while they’re sick. We can’t take that risk.” I lean forward, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. My fingertips linger a beat too long, and her lids close for a moment, as if savouring the feel of my skin on hers. “Are you sure you’re comfortable being alone for a few days?” AmIcomfortable being without her for more than a day?
She doesn’t cut me off, sitting in silence as she listens to my every word. She nods once, grabbing my hand and holding it tight. “I prefer when it’syoutaking care of me, but having some time to myself and alone with friends wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
My lungs almost fail me, my chest heaving. “And I prefer when it’s me taking care of you, too, but you’ll have to dealwith Chelsea’s shit tea-brewing for a few days, I suppose.” I feel lighter than I did before; the relief of knowing I can take care of my family and her soothes me. “Just don’t tell me if her tea is better than mine. It’ll gut me.”
She snorts, dropping my hand and wrapping her arms around me, warming my entire being with her simple touch. “Don’t get a big head about this,” she whispers. “I’m just accumulating hugs to get me through the weekend. We’re on three of four.”
“Three of twelve,” I correct, grinning. “We’re going for prosperity, not survival.”
CHAPTER
FORTY
“Lijah!”Ellie screams, sprinting across the light-pink carpet, kicking her feet through the dollies littering the floor on her way to me. She tosses herself onto the mattress. I lunge forward, grabbing her by the waist and hauling her into my lap.
“There’s no Lijah here! I’m the”—I put my hands up, curling my fingers like claws—“tickle monster!” I wiggle my fingers under her arms and along the bottoms of her feet, making her squeal.
“Stop!” she screeches, and I don’t hesitate, teaching her the meaning of consent with my every action. I drop my hands to my sides and wait for her to crawl in beside me.
“Ready for your bedtime story?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“Can you braid my hair, Lijah?” Lyla asks, padding across the room much more gracefully than our sister had. She’s wearinga mismatched pyjama set, her long waves a tangled mess that drives me out of my mind becauseI knowMum is doing her best, but it still kills me to think that she’s struggling so much to keep up, even with me here.
I pat the seat next to me on instinct, pushing the wayward thoughts from my mind, and grab the glittery purple brush from the nightstand.
“Me too, me too!” Ellie shouts.
I roll my eyes playfully, the action making me think of Adhira, and the ache in my chest grows.
“Lyla first,” I tell them, motioning for the oldest of my sisters to take a seat in front of me. She faces away, and my phone rings at the end of the bed. Lyla jolts forward, grabbing it and answering the video call before I can ask who it is.
“Adhira!” Lyla shouts in her face, her wide eyes gleaming back at me through my phone.
Adhira’s smile is wide, her cheeks flushed, dark hair combed back, and I can just barely make out Elise’s snarky smirk from behind her. “Hi, Lyla,” she says, her smile growing even broader as Ellie tosses herself in front of Lyla, covering the screen with her face. “And Ellie,” she adds with a laugh that soothes my soul. “You too, princess,” she finishes, and I know it’s for me.
Both little girls look back at me, eyes wide with confusion. “Come on now, hand me my phone,” I tell them, taking it from Lyla and setting it beside me so Adhira can see all three of us. “I was just about to start with their bedtime story. Did you need something?” I ask, working to free the hair tie from Lyla’s messy ponytail and detangle it from the necklaces I’d gotten the girls at the art festival.
Along the way, I found a set of sterling silver butterfly pendants on thin chains. Together, they form a single butterfly, much like the ones tattooed on my arm, each necklace one half of the whole piece and sold as a set. Lyla and Ellie were thrilled.
“I figured it was that time of night, and I didn’t want to miss tonight’s story,” she answers plainly, but my stomach swirls with the sugary sweetness of her intentions.
“Oh, couldn’t have that,” I agree, biting back my smile as I fiddle with the ends of Lyla’s hair, working from the ends up to detangle the long strands. “Elise, any requests for our story?” I ask, knowing she can hear me from the sofa beside Adhira.
“Anything about a badass footballer,” she says with a brighter and more cheerful voice than I’d ever thought she was capable of.
“Sure thing,” I answer, ignoring my sisters’ teasing about Elise saying a bad word. Despite our age differences, I’ve always felt painfully close to my sisters, and knowing they enjoy these stolen moments with Adhira fills the gaping chasm in my chest almost as fast as my fear of losing her can siphon it out, the two emotions at odds with one another. I focus on the story, detangling Lyla’s hair, even as my arse goes numb, squashed on this toddler bed pushed into the corner of their room.
“Once upon a time, there was a dazzling faery,” I start, but I’m immediately cut off by Adhira and Elise.
“Afaery?” they ask in outraged unison.
“I thought this was a story about a football player,” Adhira chides, and I shoot her a wink over my shoulder.
“You two hush, or you’ll never find out,” Lyla scolds them, waggling a finger at the camera. Adhira has to slap a palm over her mouth to keep quiet.It’s so easy to fall into this feeling with her, but doing so might end in a much worse fate for my heart if…I can’t allow myself to think like that.
“You heard the little lady—keep quiet and let me tell the story,” I snark. “Once upon a time, there was a beautiful stormfaery,and her name was Lightning.” I glance at the phone and catch the quirk of Adhira’s brow but refuse to confirm her suspicions. “She was the strongest, most powerful of allthe faeries on the Storm’s uni football team, but she was often overlooked for her short stature and quiet tone. But you know what they say: strong faeries come in small packages.”
Ellie and Lyla giggle. I slide the brush from the roots to the tips of Lyla’s hair. I start braiding from the top, going with a fishtail braid because it’s her favourite, but also because it takes me ages, and Imightbe trying to prolong my time with Adhira.
