A Warm Heart in Winter(91)

He squeezed her hand and then sat back again. At which point Anna Sophia splayed her fingers out. As she considered the ring, her face was cast in shadows of sadness, but there was a light in her eye that had not been there before.

“Thank you,” she said. “This gives me closure that I needed. I don’t want him to have passed, and I hate that he died so young. But I am . . . this is more than I could ever have hoped for. So thank you.”

Qhuinn smiled a little. “It’s helped me, too. Just doing this . . . makes me feel like I’ve done something for him.”

Anna Sophia smiled back at him. Then she grew serious. “I’m never going to see you again, am I.”

For a moment, Qhuinn considered lying. “No, you’re not.”

And yet he wasn’t going to take her memories. It felt important that she remember this just as much as he did, as if they were in a pact together that swore to the one thing that mattered most to him in this moment: He had honored his brother’s last request.

Which had been a beautiful, bittersweet one.

“I’m leaving town,” Qhuinn explained.

“Sometimes a fresh start is best.” She looked at the ring. Looked at him. “I’m not going to sell this. Ever. Don’t worry about that.”

Qhuinn nodded. “Wear it in good health. And think of him every time you see the sparkle.”

Anna Sophia curled her hand in. “I think I’ll put it in a really safe place for a while. It would be hard to explain to my girls. But maybe later . . .”

“The future is yours to decide.”

They all stayed where they were for a little while, and then Qhuinn took Blay’s hand and they got to their feet. Anna Sophia stood up, too, and tilted her head to one side.

“Is this your husband?” she asked.

“Ah, we don’t call it—he’s my partner, yes.”

“You two look like you fit together.”

Qhuinn blinked as a realization hit him hard. And then he slowly turned his head toward his mate.

“We do,” he heard himself say. “We do fit together.”





As they arrived back at the mansion, Blay was the one who went into the vestibule first, and after he stepped through the heavy outside door, he put his face up to the security camera. Almost immediately, the door was opened by Fritz.

“Sires, you have returned! And there is still time for First Meal, come, come!”

The butler seemed concerned as he inched back. Then again Qhuinn’s absence at meals had been well noted by everyone—and the butler had a lot in common with Blay’s mahmen: People needed to eat good, home-cooked food. Or they were in danger of expiring on the spot.

Blay opened his mouth to placate the doggen with an order of room service, but Qhuinn spoke up.

“Let’s go in,” he said. “And see everybody.”

“Your place settings are awaiting you!” Fritz clapped his hands like he was giving a rousing round of applause. “Come, come this way.”

Like they hadn’t eaten at that big table before. Like the huge room, with all the food, was a mystery when it came to its purpose.

Then again, Qhuinn seemed like he was in a daze as they walked over to the archway, and Blay was of a mind to suggest they bail—except then there was a lull in conversation as their presence registered: People paused in the consumption of their eggs and bacon, forks going still in the mid-rise from plates of food, coffee cups hitting saucers too loudly, jaws halting from chewing.

There was a quick recovery, however, the assembled throwing themselves back into the eating thing, trying to pretend that they weren’t worried and relieved all at the same time. Qhuinn, on the other hand, seemed to be in a complete stupor.

Their two seats, next to Xcor and Layla and the twins, had indeed been left vacant, and Blay made sure Qhuinn sat closest to the young. It seemed like a good sign that he greeted both Lyric and Rhamp with smiles and murmured words, but he didn’t take either of them into his lap.

Then again, the pile of calories on a porcelain plate that was presented to him was nearly as big as the mountain they were all on.

Blay’s plate was no shorter when it came to macros.

Qhuinn picked up his fork. But he didn’t eat. He just pushed things around, and Blay felt compelled to leaned back and mouth an It’s okay to their co-parents because Xcor and Layla looked really concerned.

And he supposed, considering it all, things were okay. Qhuinn had closed the circle with his brother’s final request, and it had been . . . sad, but lovely.

A secret love. A human. A break with tradition.

It made Blay respect Luchas even more.

Still, it was no wonder Qhuinn was rattled. And hey, he had made the effort to come here for the first time since—

Qhuinn jumped up with such force, his chair went flying backwards. As the thing bounced off the carpet and rattled across the bare floor, everyone went shocked-silent—as Blay wrenched around on his own seat.

Reaching up, he stammered, “What, what what-what—”

Was his mate having an aneurysm? At least Manny and Doc Jane were across the—

Qhuinn’s chest was pumping up and down as he dropped to the carpet.

“Medic!” Blay called out as he reached toward Doc Jane. “He’s going over!”