“No, I meant surprised you trust me that much around her.”
“We trustherwithyou,” I corrected, “and we trust that you know what would happen if you ever crossed the line.”
“I wouldn’t touch what’s yours.” He shot me a look of disgust.
“We never doubted that. I’m talking about taking her friendship for granted. Of abusinghertrust, not ours.”
Foster’s jaw worked silently for a moment before he exhaled through his nose with a sound like steam escaping a pressure valve.
“First friend,” he repeated, staring up at the clouds as if they might spell out instructions. “Moon Mother help me.”
Should I tell him the truth? How her quiet persistence had dismantled every defense we’d built? How her laughter made Evermere feel like a home? How three predators had become willing captives to one fragile-seeming girl’s light?
“She sees things we don’t,” I said at last. “Not just magic.People. Saw through our bullshit when even we couldn’t. She collects broken things because she knows how to put them back together.”
The silence stretched taut between us until Foster muttered, “Fucking terrifying little girl.”
“She makes all of it worthwhile,” I admitted. “The madness, the mess, the war in our heads.”
“That’s why you three let her drag strays home?”
A dry laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
“You think weletSeri do anything? Moonlight drowns stars when she sets her mind to something.”
Brummy yawned dramatically, exposing razor-sharp teeth still flecked with remnants of Mrs. Wentzel’s beef Wellington from dinner last night. Foster ran his scarred hands gently over the pup’s back.
“You boys are all fucked.”
“Spectacularly.” I rose, brushing grass from my joggers. “Training starts in twenty.”
“Wouldn’t miss watching Zane eat my fist.”
The image of my brother’s inevitable humiliation carried me through Evermere’s sun-dappled halls until I found Seri exactly where I’d left her: Buried in our bed with Koa’s arms locked around her waist and Zane’s face smushed into her breasts.
“Celebration tonight,” I announced, sitting on the edge of the mattress. “For our wife’s successful integration of hostile forces.”
“Hostile?” Koa didn’t open his eyes.
“Have youseenFozzerella’s biceps?” Zane mumbled. “Those things could crack walnuts.”
Seri made a soft noise of protest as I peeled away my brothers, then the duvet cocoon. Her lips were still stained blue from whatever candy she’d smuggled into bed, and the sight punched through my ribs, this girl who’d somehow become our everything.
“Beloved.” I kissed her temple, inhaling dragon fruit dew andher. “We’re proud of you.”
“Because Foster keeps us in toilet paper?” She blinked sleep-softened eyes.
“For beingyou.” My thumb traced along her jawline. “We’ll have a victory feast this evening.”
“At which I vote she strips for us!” Zane smirked, then yelped as I lunged and yanked him from bed by his ankle.
“I’m proud of you three, too.” Seri caught my wrist before I could throttle him. “For letting him be my friend. For giving him a chance. I think he was meant to be here with us. Like he finally found a place where he could fit.”
An image popped into my mind. The plaque at the gates. Evermere’s motto. I’d thought it was a bunch of poetic bullshit when we’d first arrived here, but Seri hadn’t. She’d believed it. That there was hope here. That there could be peace and happiness in our new beginning.
And for once in my life, I was never so glad to be proven wrong.
23. Meant to Be
