Page 131 of Vameer

All of it. The good and the bad.

I kiss her hair again.

Rune keeps her hand in mine as my brother welcomes us into his home.

She squeezes my fingers when he shows me the chairs he’s making.

My mate leans against me as I see how Volik has been living.

And like everything else, she’s completely accepting. No questioning the fact that Volik’s house is underground, in the middle of the woods, with a wall of glass in the side of a hill as the only hint of a dwelling beneath.

She doesn’t ask why the hallways are all long and winding. Or why the bedroom is at the deepest point.

I’ll explain it all later, tell her why he did it this way. And how it’s so impressive.

If I hadn’t spent so much unintended time in a cave recently, I might want a home just like this. But the stone walls and floors and ceilings remind me a little too much of my time in the mountain. It’s beautiful. And we’ll stay, as Volik and Nix have offered. But Rune and I will find a different type of home when the time is right.

Still holding hands, we follow Volik and Nix back up to the living room.

It’s a spacious room carved from the same tan stone as everything else. A large couch faces a television on the opposite wall, with a low wooden table between them. And another smaller couch is perpendicular to the first.

“The spare suite is down that hall.” Volik points to the opposite wall. “If there is anything you need that you do not have, simply ask.”

The side of my mouth lifts. He was hardly a kid the last time I saw him, nearing two hundred. But this feels like a whole new adult version of Volik.

Which reminds me of the Battle of Versailles. A fight that never should have been his.

Shame and anger and guilt collect around me, and my shoulders drop.

Rune snaps her gaze up to mine, her forehead furrowed.

I squeeze her fingers as I face Volik and Nix. “I am sorry about Morell. He never should have gone after you. But I should’ve known…”

Volik lifts a brow. “You should have known he would eventually kidnap your brother’s mate through a painted mirror in the hallway of a college?”

I stare at him for a long second. “Obviously that is too specific.”

A loud laugh bursts out of Nix as she drops onto the couch.

“Sorry.” She widens her eyes.

Rune snickers.

I look down at my smiling mate, then up to Volik. “These two might be trouble together.”

Rune scoffs. “Us? At least we don’t crack our skulls together to say hello.”

Nix laughs again. “Oh my gods, I heard that too.”

Not letting go of her hand, I step in front of Rune, blocking her view of Nix.

She pokes my side with a snicker.

I lift my voice. “I should’ve known Morell would do something drastic. If I had warned you, it might have helped. Or, rather, I should have just killed him the last time I saw him.”

Volik slowly nods. “Da. Killing him long ago would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

I straighten my shoulders.