“Maxen is my husband.” Violet sent Calliope a droll stare, and she grinned. “He is also the broodiest and head of the family. Well, he’s taken a step back since he married me.”
“Leaving Drake in charge, I imagine.” Given that Drake was the first brother he found, they should be the closest.
Calliope nodded in conversation. “The others are each mysterious in their own right, even to me.”
“Reaper being the least so, correct?”
Calliope chuckled. “Do not let him hear you say that. He’ll just become more incorrigible.”
“I kind of envy their brotherhood.”
Calliope patted her hand. “We are starting a sisterhood. That is good too, no?”
Sisterhood.
An unexpected flutter sparked in her chest, light and bright and altogether familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. All her life, she had survived alone with no one with the tenderest parts of herself. And now... sisterhood. A woman at her side. Shared family. Shared burdens. Shared knowing smiles. It made her almost... giddy. Ridiculously so, given the circumstances. She bit back a laugh, suddenly eager for whispered conversations, for plans hatched over tea, for the quiet certainty ofwe. Not merely a wife. Not merely protected. But belonging in a way that felt entirely her own.
She thought of Holly and Pippa, who had given her the first sisterhood she had ever known. The kind forged in secret, in clandestine moments, in letters passed under doors. That had saved her life. This one, she suspected, might do something equally significant. It might give her somewhere to belong that no one could take back.
“Does it make me mad to feel thrilled?”
Calliope’s smile softened, something bright sparking behind her eyes. “If it does, then we may as well be mad together. Someone needs to keep the mood light. Besides, there’s a certain comfort in knowing these men are loyal to the marrow. Once you belong to them, you belong utterly.”
Her neck prickled where Drake had kissed her.
There certainly is comfort in that.
“So,” Calliope asked. “When will you get married?”
Violet’s eyes flew wide at the unexpected question, and blurted, “We’re not getting married!”
“What?” A growl came from the table.
“I mean—”
Her words cut off the moment a chair scraped back and a thunderous Drake stalked over to them. Drake planted his hands on the bar on either side of her, caging her in with his strong arms, his body close enough that she felt the heat of him. Blazes, he smelled like sin and heaven combined.
“We’re not getting married?” he asked in the lowest voice she had ever heard him speak in.
Violet swallowed, her pulse leaping traitorously. “I was merely surprised by Calliope’s question, that’s all.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. Brief. Possessive. “So wearegetting married?”
She leaned into him, lips curving, lifting her hand to trace the scar across his face. “You shall know when you know.”
Reaper whistled from the table.
His jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath his skin. “I want to know now.”
“Drake,” Maxen growled. “Keep your shenanigans for later. We’re not done.”
His eyes didn’t leave hers as he answered his brother. “Just reminding my woman that I’m her man.”
“God spare me,” someone muttered.
Violet flushed and pushed at his chest. “Go, you brute! Don’t hold your brothers up.”
He pushed away reluctantly, but not before he captured her lips in a hot kiss and stalked back to the table.
