Opposition (Lux, #5)(79)

She shook her head.

“Yes. She told me what you did. She could’ve killed you, Kat.”

“I know, but . . . I didn’t want you to have to fight your sister, to have to hurt her. I didn’t want you to have to ever make that choice and live with what happened.”

It made me love her more than I thought possible. I placed my hands on her knees and leaned in, pressing my lips against her forehead. “Thank you. That’s not enough, but thank you is the best I got.”

“You don’t even need to say that.” Kat rested her forehead against mine and whispered, “I love you.”

I moved up to sit beside her, wanting to pull her into my arms, but I resisted because I could tell she was hurting. “Where?”

She knew what I was asking. “I’m really okay.”

“You look like you’re in pain. Come on. You know I’m going to heal you. Don’t fight me on this.”

For a moment, she stared at me, and then she stuck out her tongue, which caused me to grin. “Pretty much everywhere, especially my ribs. She threw me through a wall.”

I breathed around the flash of anger, telling myself Dee hadn’t known better so I didn’t get all “rage face,” as Kat would say. Carefully, I touched her sides and let the healing begin. “Well, I need you back to perfection, because Dee’s probably going to hit you again.”

Kat winced. “Do I even want to know why?”

“Sit still,” I said. “I told her we got married. She’s happy, but she wants to punch you because she didn’t get to be a part of it.”

“Oh.” She laughed and then cringed. “Was she happy about it? I mean, was she okay?”

“Of course.” As the heat of my ability started making its way through Kat, her eyes drifted shut and her cheek ended up on my shoulder. I liked it. Kind of made me feel warm and fuzzy with her all cuddled up against me. “She’s thrilled, actually. Just wait until I tell her we plan on doing the big, real ceremony. She might not hit you then.”

When she laughed softly, this time it didn’t end with her wincing in pain. Moving my hand to cup her cheek, I took care of the bruises there. “She’s in there with Archer now,” I said.

Kat sighed. “He’s not a bad guy.”

“He’s an Origin.”

She rolled her eyes. “Archer may be an Origin, but he’s still a good guy, and he cares about her, Daemon. He really does, and he’s been worried about her this entire time.”

Ugh.

“You know he can protect her. And he’ll be good for her, so—”

“I’m letting them be. I know she needs him, especially right now when she’s . . . Well, she’s got a lot going on in her head that she’s dealing with.”

Kat’s eyes searched mine, and then she smiled broadly. The blood on her chin didn’t deter from the beauty of it, but I smoothed my thumb over the red, wiping it away. “Wow. I’m sort of proud of you, Daemon.”

“Don’t be too proud, because I still don’t like him.”

“You know what I think?” She lowered her voice as if she were sharing a secret. “I think you do like Archer, and you just don’t want to admit that you’re in the beginning stages of a bromance to end all bromances.”

I snorted. “Whatever.”

Kat laughed again, and silence stretched out between us as my gaze drifted over her face. I started to lean in, but the sound of a car rolling up the long driveway forced us apart. It was Lore’s car.

“Uh-oh,” I murmured.

Kat cringed. “We’ve destroyed his house.”

“It was an accident,” I said, standing and moving down a step just in case Lore got rightfully upset. “He’ll understand.”

In other words, I’d make him understand.

Lore rolled to a stop next to the Explorer, and Hunter and Serena were the first out of the car, carrying a couple of bags. They rounded the porch and came to a complete stop as they saw the doorway . . . missing the door.

Hunter glanced at me. “Do I even want to know?”

“Well . . .” I started slowly.

Sighing, Hunter turned around and caught his brother by the arm. Lore had gotten a good look at the front of his house—the missing door, busted-out windows—and he was just standing there.

“We had a little problem,” Kat began.

“What did you do to my house?” Lore asked. “We left you alone for an hour tops. Just an hour. Seriously.”

If he thought this was bad, wait until he saw the inside. But then he was storming up the steps, and I figured he’d be finding out real soon as he entered the house. I placed my hand on the small of Kat’s back as we followed him in.

“Holy . . .” Lore’s voice faded off into stunned silence.

Hunter gave a low whistle as he took it in. “Damn, guys, this is kind of impressive.”

My lips twitched, but I was smart enough to wipe the smile from my face when Lore spun on us. “Someone is going to clean this up, and it’s not going to be me.”

He was handling this surprisingly well, but I figured being an Arum and all, this wasn’t the first time his house looked like a wrecking ball had gone into it.

I leaned around Hunter, scanning the last room I’d left Dee in, but when I didn’t see her or Archer in there, I glanced at the spiral staircase.