“Callum bought the townhome, didn’t he?” I asked as we approached the old Searah home.
Eamon hummed, a soft smile curling his lips. “I believe a week after he first saw Lilith the night of Jules’ pyre he found the owner. It took a while for all the paperwork to be complete, seeing as it had to pass through many different channels in order to keep Mael from finding out, though I offered to buy it for him. Once it was done, he set about to restoring the home to what it had once been.” He traced the antique brass knocker hung on the door. “Mateo and I assisted, but it was all him.”
He knocked twice. Nerves flapped in my stomach and I stepped a little closer into his side. My mate tucked me tighter beneath his arm, pressing a kiss to my brow.
There is nothing to fear, my heart,he reassured through the bond.
The door was wrenched open a moment later. Before I could do so much as take a breath, I was yanked from beneath Eamon’s arm and into an embrace. I didn’t need to see who itwas; Lilith’s hair half choked me as she squeezed tight, sobbing with relief.
I held her just as close, marveling at how it felt as if nothing and yet everything had changed. There was a low voice nearby and I registered another presence sliding up beside her.
“You’re suffocating her, darling,” Callum murmured.
“She’s immortal, she doesn’t need air anymore,” Lilith countered, voice raw with tears.
I spluttered a bit as I tried to get her hair out of my mouth. “But…I still enjoy it.”
A mixture of laughter trickled in from many different voices within the house as she eventually loosened her hold. I braced myself to see some difference in her, but just as I’d seen in the mirror that I was still myself, she was still my Lilith, just with those small telltale vampire differences.
“Your eyes are strange,” I noted, realizing they had the same swirling quality as Eamon’s.
She nodded. “Seth was generous enough to give me his blood when I was first made. It eased the pain of the transformation. He seems to be the only one we can drink from besides our bonded.”
My brows drew together. “There was pain?”
Eamon pressed a hand against my lower back, urging me inside. “Let’s go inside, my love.”
Lilith nodded enthusiastically, dragging me by the hand. But she didn’t pull me up the stairs toward the apartments she’d shared with Jules. Instead, she guided me into a sitting room on the ground floor.
“This is what the house was like when I was a child,” she explained, throwing Callum a look that was so filled with love it warmed my heart. “I like to think Maman would be happy to know we are back here.”
I nodded, squeezing her hand tightly. “I think she would be. Who else is here?”
But I didn’t need to ask as we made our way into the sitting room. Seth stood by the mantel. He’d been watching the flames but turned at our approach. My heart jolted for a moment as I remembered the last time I’d seen him, but this was not that house and not those rooms. Seth frowned as if he could feel my panic, but Eamon’s love through the bond smoothed the fear until my shoulders dropped a fraction. Safe. I was safe—we all were.
I was surprised to see Mateo by the window with his arms crossed. Though he had a smile on his face, the grief was plain, as if it was a shroud he tightly wrapped around himself. I wondered if, to Mateo, this place was full of ghosts. Henry stood beside him and it was clear he was struggling to put on the same calm façade. He breathed out a heavy sigh, closing the distance between us in an instant.
“I am so relieved to see you are well,” he said, embracing me as best he could with my hand in Lilith’s and Eamon at my back.
“Henry healed what he could of your infection,” my mate offered.
Henry drew back. “I am sorry I could not do more.”
There was so much regret in his voice I could not understand, but I offered him a small smile, taking his hand with my free one. “You did more than enough. Thank you for giving me the gift of your magic.”
He bowed over my knuckles, kissing them. “Welcome to the family, Madame Azad.”
A small bolt of heat shot up my spine. I blinked, turning to Eamon, who looked at Henry with narrowed eyes. The latter kissed my hand one more time before straightening.
Adrienne Azad. I couldn’t help but smile a little, despite the bittersweet grief. It was traditional for a fledglingto take on the last name of their maker—I would never be Adrienne Valois again. My mind drifted to my brother and I hoped he was safe wherever he was, having shed our family name as well.
Now, I hoped, we were both free.
“I must be going, but I will see you soon.” Henry moved so fast that even to my preternatural eyes it looked as if he disappeared.
I frowned. “What was that about?”
Eamon chuckled, running a hand over his mouth. “Noah is coming.”
