Page 19 of The Human’s Heart

I smiled back. “Good.”

“Come up with any bets yet?”

“Nope, but I came up with a drinking game.” I reached over and grabbed a giant bottle of wine. “Every time the main character gets shot at and a bad guy misses, we take a sip.”

Kian’s eyes went wide. “We’ll be drunk five minutes in.”

I snorted. “Exactly.”

Kian cackled, grabbed the other bottle of wine off the counter, and headed into the living room.

Hopefully movie night would go better than the board game.

Since I wanted to make things work, I asked Phia, “Do you like action movies? Is the movie we picked okay?”

She sent me a smile that seemed genuine and actually kind, and I figured that my earlier assessment that she was just uncomfortable was right. Maybe she wasn’t too bad after all. “I like action movies.”

“Awesome. Have you seen this one yet?”

She shook her head. “Nope, but it’s been on my list, so I’m excited to see it.”

I smiled and finally felt myself relax as I sat beside Zaos on the couch. He automatically put his arm around me, and I leaned into his side but still said to Phia, “Wanna join our drinking game?”

She laughed and held up her empty wine glass. “Sure.”

Kian said, “We’re all gonna regret this.”

I snorted and poured the wine.

Chapter 6

Zaos

The rest of the weekend went much better. Phia turned out to be pretty funny once she dropped her guard a little and started interacting with us. I was thinking that Hugo was right about her feeling left out while we played that game Friday evening and I hurt her feelings. I’d apologized three times, and finally, on the last try, she accepted my apology, and we all moved on.

Third time’s a charm… apparently.

She’d even complimented our addition when we’d shown them the plans and walked around the foundation to point things out, which was nice since Hugo and I helped design it. It was basically just random wood and things all over the place right now, but we could kind of see how it was going to come together.

Now it was time for Phia and Kian to leave, and I… wasn’t very happy about it.

I loved having my brother close by. I’d missed this… this family stuff while I’d been away at college. I honestly hadn’t even realized just how badly I’d missed it until Kian started coming over for regular visits.

I supposed I could ignore it easily when no one else was around—an out-of-sight, out-of-mind kind of thing—but now I kept getting these little sneak peeks, and I was… wishing some of my family lived nearby.

Sure, we had the portal now, which was really great and convenient, but it still felt different. It wasn’t the same as knowing my baby brother lived in the house next door or my cousin was only a giant’s step away down the hill. It wasn’t the same as knowing my entire family, our whole coven, was right there, any time I needed one of them. It wasn’t the same as gardening in my own backyard only to have one of my uncles walk by and offer to help.

I missed them. I really did.

But I also remembered how… crowded I’d felt when I’d lived on coven land permanently. I’d been overwhelmed more times than not. Not because I didn’t love my family but because there were just so many of them and they were always around.

Having my own space was definitely beneficial, especially when it came to my work and school.

And building a home—a true home, not just a house—with Hugo was one of the best things I’d ever done.

If only I could convince Kian to move in next door or something. Then I’d have the best of both worlds.

My brother came over and gave me a huge hug. I squeezed him as tight as I could, and he grunted and whispered, “You okay, bro?”