Origin (Lux #4)(79)

She still hadn’t let go, and I didn’t mind. “For everything—for not seeing your side of things, for being so caught up in my grief and anger that I totally abandoned you. For never telling you that I missed you before…”

Before it was too late was what she was going to say.

Blinking back tears, I smiled against her shoulder. “You have nothing to apologize for, Dee. I mean it. None of that…” Well, it did matter. Adam’s death mattered. “It’s okay now.”

She held me tighter and whispered, “Is it? Because I’ve been so worried about you and Daemon and what could’ve…”

My body roiled into nervous knots, and I willed the sudden rise of dread to go away. It wasn’t welcome here, not in this happy moment. “It’s okay.”

“I’ve missed you.”

A few tears snuck out. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“Okay. Okay. I think you’re starting to cut off her air supply.” Dawson tugged on Dee’s arm. “And I think Daemon is starting to get jealous.”

“Pfft. It’s my turn with Katy,” she replied, but she let go.

And then Dawson replaced his sister. He hugged me, nothing as fierce as Dee’s but still powerful. “Thank you,” he said quietly, and I knew those two words encompassed so much. “I hope you know how thankful I am for everything you’ve done.”

Unsure if I could speak, I nodded.

“Okay. Now I am getting jealous,” Daemon said, and Paris laughed.

Dawson gave me a quick squeeze. “I’m forever in your debt.”

I wanted to tell him that wasn’t necessary. Helping him get Bethany was something I’d do all over again, even knowing that Blake had set us up. After being in Daedalus’s grips, now more than ever I understood how important it had been to get her out. The only thing I would’ve changed was where I was standing in that damn tunnel in Mount Weather.

He stepped aside as his brother swooped in, picking up the tote and circling his arm around my waist. Dawson cocked his head to the side. “What is up with the alien doll?”

“Daemon thought it would remind me of him,” I told Dawson.

“Tell him what you named it,” Daemon said, and then he dropped a kiss atop my head.

My heart jumped, and my cheeks flushed. “I named it DB.”

Dee peered at the alien toy over Dawson’s shoulder. “It kind of does look like you, Daemon.”

“Ha. Ha.” I tugged the doll out of the bag and held it close. For some reason, I loved the stupid thing.

“Everyone want to head in?” Luc rocked back on the heels of his Converse sneakers. “I’m starving.”

Dee spun around so that she was on my other side as we headed in. She stole a peek at Archer, who walked in behind us. If I noticed that, so did Daemon. And whatever Dee was thinking right now, most likely Archer was eavesdropping in on.

I so needed to give her a heads-up on that.

Plus the fact that Archer was, well, he was really different from all of us.

The temperature was a good thirty degrees cooler inside the brightly lit foyer, even with the glass sky dome allowing the sunlight inside. Quartz was embedded in the tile floor, making everything so sparkly. There were large, leafy plants positioned at the corners, which made my fingers itchy to dig into soil.

Sinking my fingers into soil…wow, how long had it been since I’d done that? The day we’d left for Mount Weather? Too long.

“You doing okay?”

“Huh?” I glanced up at Daemon, and I realized that I must’ve stopped walking, because everyone else was already in the hall beyond the foyer. “Yeah, I was just thinking about gardens.”

An emotion crossed his face. Before I could decipher what it was, he looked away. I reached over and tugged on the hem of his shirt. “How about you? Seeing Dawson and Dee?”

He thrust his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what to think.” He kept his voice low. “I’m happy to see them, but…dammit.”

I nodded in understanding. “You don’t want them anywhere near this?”

“No. Not at all.”

I wanted to somehow lessen his concern, but I knew there was nothing I could say that would do so. I stretched up and kissed his cheek. That was the best I had.

He grinned down at me once I settled back on my feet. He opened his mouth to say something, but Dee popped back into the foyer.

Expression exasperated, she put her hands on her hips. “All right, you two, come in a little farther. There are people here in the great room who would like to say hi. Whatever a ‘great room’ is I really have no idea, but it is pretty great.”

God, I missed her so much.

Daemon lifted his head, smiling at his sister. “Yeah, I think I know who’s waiting.”

The people waiting to say hello were none other than Matthew, plus Ash and Andrew Thompson. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see them. All of them—Matthew, the Thompsons—were like a family. They converged on Daemon at once, and they swallowed him, Dawson and Dee included.

I hung back again, because this was his reunion—a well-deserved one. And the room was rather distracting. Oriental carpet. More statues of dolphins. Quartz-trimmed furniture. A couch big enough for the Duggar family.