An unimpressed sound rumbled from where he lingered against the wall. “I recall offering Brenton as a sacrifice to the water gods.” Each word came out slow as his shadows flowed at his feet.
Finley cracked both eyes open where silver flecks danced around the hazel. “Then you’ll appreciate what comes next. Get in the water, or we’re shoving you in here.”
Teddy snorted as she made her way toward Elias, bracing herself between his legs. “I like the idea of shoving him in here.”
“I’m getting in,” he grumbled, although his mouth twitched like he enjoyed the threat. He stripped off his shirt, and after stepping in, he splashed Finley. “And here I thought, you’d end up being the less annoying one.”
Finley’s smile bloomed, gorgeous and impossible to look away from.
“Wait until you get to know her better,” Etienne said, dryly, draping his arm over the rim. “Then you’ll learn how relentlessly annoying she can be.”
Finley let out an exaggerated scoff and flicked water at him.
Victoria tugged at the seashell bracelet around my wrist, the tiny shells spinning under her thumb. “What’s this, Uncle Brent?”
“Finley and I made bracelets out of the seashells we found in Vistos.” I scooped her up, and she twined her arms around my neck in a way I hoped she’d never outgrow. “I made each of you one, too.”
“What about Cas and Zayne?” Jasmine asked, her brows piercing together in that little fierce way of hers. Always the first to make sure no one got left behind. And the first to stage a tiny rebellion if they had.
“I made them one too,” I said, shooting her a quick wink over Victoria’s shoulder. “I think Mama Teddy should hang on to them until they’re a little older.”
Teddy smiled, thankful, as she pushed a wet curl from Jasmine’s forehead. “Yeah,” she said gently. “We don’t want tiny treasures ending up in their little mouths,” she explained.
Finley watched us with something I couldn’t name crossing her features. It wasn’t quite amusement nor longing either. After passing Victoria into Elias’s arms, I knelt behind Finley. She leaned back without a word, letting her back rest against my chest. I swept her short hair to the side, fingers tracing her warm skin, and I pressed a slow trail of kisses from the curve of her neck to her shoulder.
“You okay?” I whispered.
“This is nice,” she said, her words soft. “A little weird.”
“Good weird, though?”
She turned to kiss the corner of my mouth. “Good weird.”
Laughter and chatter echoed in the room. Not loud but soft and real.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed this during our time in Vistos. My family.
While the others would wait for us in our realm, Finley, Alastor, and I had to finish what Zaicha had put in motion.
Some of us might not return.
So I let the sound of their laughter linger. Let Finley lean against me. Let this moment stretch a little longer than war and battles allowed.
This . . . this was a memory worth surviving for.
The house wasquiet with Etienne in my guest room, probably already under the covers with Frisky at his feet.
Finley stood on the balcony where the night wind tugged on her hair. The village was still alive with neighbors, who would visit long into the night.
Without my asking, she had pulled on one of my shirts and shorts as she’d done every night since we came back to our realm.
I let my hands linger on her sides before I drew her in and kissed her cheek. “You look tired.”
She nipped my chin, and when her canines pulled low, she grazed them across my throat. I stretched my neck, my heart thumping harder as I offered myself to her. Her lips trailed softly across my skin to the hollow of my throat.
“I want you, Brenton,” she said, voice husky.
I stilled, my heart pounding harder.
