Page 68 of The Human’s Heart

Chapter 21

Zaos

Granddad did, in fact, bring over three different magicked-up pieces for Hugo to wear. He wanted to ensure that someone couldn’t just break a chain around his neck or steal his ring or whatever and leave him vulnerable to the sun. I appreciated the thought.

Hugo now wore a necklace with a supposedly unbreakable chain, a bracelet with the same assurance, and a ring, and Granddad and Grandpa wanted Hugo to pierce his ear or something and were talking about tattooing something on him as a backup. They even said they’d bring over a couple more rings and another bracelet for his other arm, just to be safe.

Hugo’s eyes had widened at that, but he hadn’t complained at all.

In fact, he’d been very gracious and thankful to everyone. He was handling this way better than anticipated.

Way better than me, that was for sure.

The fact that they wanted to have him wear so many more sunlight amulets or whatever you wanted to call them was actually freaking me out a little. But maybe that was because everything was freaking me out. I had a feeling I’d be freaked out for a very, very long time after what happened, after what I’d seen, after seeing my viramore dying on the floor and—

I cut that thought off and took a deep breath before my worry reached Hugo. He had enough going on. He certainly didn’t need my bullshit on top of everything he was dealing with.

Due to the circumstances, I’d gotten special permission to take my final from home since it was the last major grade I had to turn in for my summer class. So as of about fifteen minutes ago, I was done with school for the next month before my last semester started.

Hopefully that would give us enough time to get everything figured out and start living at home again. Well, actually, that was going to be a problem. One I needed to bring up with Hugo. But at least we had the portal now, so even if we were staying here, I could go to school and come right back with ease.

Without us there at the house, the construction crew was working longer hours to finish our addition. According to Grandpa, our home would be done in about a week. Then we just needed to buy furniture and decorate. Hugo and I were debating asking my sister and cousins if they were up to the task.

Neither of us were very picky, and I wasn’t sure when we’d have the chance to go shopping. Hugo should be fine to be around strangers soon, but even though he could technically go out in the sun, his instincts weren’t letting him. And being summertime, the sun didn’t go down until most stores were already closed.

So yeah, I’d talk to Hugo today about asking my sister and cousins for help. We could ask Kian too, but I wasn’t sure he was up for it. Although, he might appreciate the distraction.

He’d still been spending nearly every night with us, which none of us minded at all. He was healing, and I hoped being around family was helping him.

Over the next few days, more and more of my family came to visit us at Uncle Toby and Uncle Thay’s house. They wanted to make sure we knew they cared, and I was pretty sure everyone was also making sure Hugo was able to be around people without vamping out and trying to suck everyone dry.

But he was so calm about everything that I knew there was no risk.

“How long do you think we need to stay here?” Hugo asked one night after my uncles left their house for a work call.

“Probably another week or two, I think. But, um, I wanted to talk to you about after that.”

“What do you mean?”

I cringed but pushed ahead. “I know having the portal makes it really easy to go back and forth, but if we cross over, and Uncle Toby’s still here, well… your body is only going to feel the distance. You might panic being so far from your sire.”

He stiffened for a few beats. “So… what does that mean? Do we have to stay here for a few more weeks?”

This time, I tried to hold in my cringe. “Well, not exactly. Um… we could maybe, uh, have Granddad finish our house here.”

He tilted his head up to look me in the eyes. “You want to move back to coven land?”

“Not permanently or anything. But for a time, yeah, I think that would be a good option. We could have our own space, but still be close to your sire. We might even need to stay here sometimes if your vampy side is feeling, uh, like it needs him or whatever, but maybe this would be… good.”

He was quiet for a long time before he offered me a small smile. “You’ve been wanting to set up a second house here anyway, so… I think that’s a great idea.”

“Really?”

He nodded, and I took a moment to examine our connection and make sure he was really okay with the plan and wasn’t just saying it for my benefit.

He snuggled into my side and hummed, whispering, “I’m fine as long as I’m with you. I love our home in Clairiston, but I love it here too. And you’ve always wanted a home here, so yeah, babe, I’m good with this. It’ll be nice to have a little privacy too.”

I snorted at that. “You have no idea how little privacy we’re gonna have here, even in our own home, just so you know.”