Page 883 of Coal Hearts

I winced at his attempt at a joke.

“Way too soon for that sort of humour, Paavak.” Henri wiped his mouth and shook his head. “I...I’m having a really hard time seeing you alive when I saw you with my own fucking eyes. You were dead.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Peter smirked. “You told me I couldn’t die, remember? Back in the kitchens? You gave me explicit orders not to give up, so...I didn’t.”

Henri shifted to the other side of the bed, his steps uneven. He towered over both of us as I wiped my tears with my jumper’s sleeve.

Poking Peter in the shoulder, Henri breathed, “H-How?” His voice cracked. “I know what I saw that night. Your lips were blue. You didn’t move. All the jewels saw you die.”

Sitting higher in bed, Peter didn’t wince with pain or show any sign of death. Shadows smudged beneath his eyes and a beard framed his lips, but he didn’t look anywhere close to dying. “Apparently, I’m hard to kill. I mean, I had good training from all the other times Victor tried. I guess I’ve gotten rather good at coming back from some pretty nasty shit.” He shrugged and looked down at his body. A flower-dotted hospital gown covered him, and he winced when he moved his slung arm, but his skin glowed a rich dark tan. “And I’m not even high! Well, I’m on a few painkillers, but I haven’t needed to self-medicate. Being free is the best drug in the whole damn world.”

He glanced at me then Henri. He laughed again. “You two should see your faces.”

Henri shot me a look, his eyes suspiciously wet.

My tears faded as bubbly laughter escaped. “You certainly sound like you. Just as mad as usual.”

“Mad?” He grabbed his chest with fake hurt. “And here I was excited to see you.” He reached for my hand and squeezed me so damn hard. “I thought you’d died on me, jaanu. I’ve been going out of my mind ever since I remembered.”

“Remembered?”

“Ah, yes. I might have had a touch of amnesia.” He shrugged with another smirk. “Nothing major. I’m too stubborn to forget for long.”

“You’re definitely stubborn.” Henri kept staring at Peter. If I didn’t know him, I’d say he had mixed feelings about Peter coming back from the dead, but I did know him. And I saw how much he struggled to stay composed. How much he fought the same crippling gratefulness threatening to send me into a faint.

Peter’s smirk slipped a little as he caught Henri’s gaze. Solemnity swirled between the two men as Peter held out his left hand, his right tucked tight in its sling. “I owe you a thank you, Ri.”

“Ri?” Henri shuddered, ignoring Peter’s outstretched palm. “You know I had a dream—might’ve been a hallucination, doesn’t matter—where all of us shared breakfast in the sun. You called me Ri.”

“Is that a problem?” Peter scowled.

Henri shrugged as if he couldn’t catch his bearings. “No...no problem at all.”

I backed up a little, seeing the cracks in my twin flame.

He was failing. Falling.

Three...

Two—

With a guttural growl, Henri bent and snatched Peter in a savage hug.

Peter squeaked, his back bending as Henri smothered him.

I smiled and felt so much love I almost burst into a million pieces.

Peter’s gaze met mine over Henri’s shoulder. He rolled his eyes then closed them, returning Henri’s far too vicious hug with one arm.

It took an age for Henri to pull away.

When he did, he had more composure. Raking both hands through his hair, he cleared his throat and shrugged. “So...you gonna tell us how you did it? Why I’ve been mourning you like a stupid sap? Why I’ve had so many sleepless nights thinking my only friend had died?”

“Aw, I’m your friend, Ri?” Peter snickered. “I’m touched.”

“I’ll punch you if you’re not careful.”

“Ily would punch you right back on my behalf.” Peter winked at me. “Wouldn’t you, jaanu?”