She shrugs, utterly unbothered. “Being near the end ofmy time means I don’t have much to lose by not kissing your ass any longer.”
Marius lifts a brow. “Noted.”
His attention shifts outward, scanning the tree line with the precision of someone who’s lived in survival mode for years. “This place feels different.”
“You feel different,” Iris says brightly and then blinks as if surprised by her own words. A flicker of something I can’t read crosses her face.
Cade meets my gaze, brows drawn, but neither of us comments on it.
“Can wepleasego inside now?” Liz mutters. “I’d like a gallon of blood and a boiling bath before we unpack the emotional trauma buffet we all apparently brought home.”
Her exhaustion shows now—not just physically, but in the way her voice dips lower. Dark circles shadow her eyes. Her shoulders slump as if she’s finally conceding that maybe,just maybe, she should’ve let Elias carry her again.
“I’ll walk with you,” I tell her gently, stepping to her side. “Make sure you have everything you need.”
Then I turn to Cade. “Meet you in my room?”
He nods, leaning down to press a warm kiss to the top of my head. His hand slides briefly between my shoulder blades—steadying, grounding—before releasing me.
“I’ll take Archie with me,” he says.
I almost tell him no, but when Archie doesn’t even flinch from being moved from his place around my neck, I keep quiet. I still don’t know what any of them really went through being out in that twisted, snow-infested forest all that time, but I can’t imagine it’s been easy on any of them.
Rest is going to be needed for all of us.
“I’ll join you ladies,” Iris says, going up the steps so quickly that she misses when Liz’s face falls, but I don’t.
“Actually, I think it would be better with just me,” I tell Iris. “We can all get together for dinner tonight.”
I expect her to object, but surprisingly, she doesn’t. There’s another long blink before she turns for the house, heading away from the stairs and toward the hallway.
That was almost too easy, but I don’t have the energy to figure out if I’ve hurt her feelings.
Cade and Elias fall into step behind us, but when we reach Liz’s room, they continue down the hall, shoulders brushing, tension still radiating off both of them.
A thought slams into me hard enough to make my head whip around. “Where’s Marius?”
“I saw him follow Iris,” Cade says, looking back at me. “Do you want me to go get him?”
I shake my head quickly. “Just making sure he wasn’t waiting awkwardly outside.”
I’m not sure how comfortable he’s going to feel here, but I make a mental note to check on him privately at some point tonight.
Inside Liz’s room, she wastes exactly zero seconds. The moment the door clicks shut, she practicallycrawlstoward her minibar like a starving raccoon discovering a dumpster buffet.
“Gods, I’ve needed this,” she rasps as she yanks open the tiny fridge. “Over four decades of being a vampire and I’ve never?—”
She doesn’t finish. She’s already tearing into a blood bag with her fangs, guzzling like she’s dying of thirst. In her defense, she probably is.
I half expect to be horrified, but honestly? It’s impressive. And a little hilarious. Especially when she slouches to the floor with the second bag and lets out a noise that sounds questionable at best.
I head to the bathroom to start her bath, and when I return, a third bag hangs drained from her fingers while she sips the fourth like it’s a fine wine.
She finally pauses, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Sorry. If I hadn’t been frozen solid most of that time, I’d have dried out completely. You’d have found a shriveled-up version of me. Honestly, I’m surprised I made it this long.”
I kneel beside her. “What’s the longest you’ve gone before?”
“Six days,” she says without hesitation. “After that, my skin started to wrinkle.” She twists her arm, grimacing. “It was only just starting this time. The inside was worse. Pure agony.”
