Page 81 of Bloom in Darkness

He catches the edge before I can shut him out. “I think he should decide that.”

“He already has.” Keeping one hand on the door, I call toward the kitchen without taking my eyes off Silas. “Astra?”

“I don’t want to speak to him,” Astra calls back.

Silas keeps one hand against the door. “He doesn’t understand what happened last night. Sabine pushed too far, but that doesn’t mean you two haven’t been pulling him in the other direction. If you actually care about him, you’ll let him hear someone who isn’t financially tied to keeping him.”

I lean more of my weight into the door. “No.”

“And this is exactly why he needs to hear somebody else.”

I pull the door out of his hand and close it.

Astra’s waiting in the hall when I turn around, one hand covering his mouth like he’s trying not to laugh. “You really gave him three sentences.”

“Too many.” I glance back at the locked door, but Astra’s amusement is already disappearing as he looks toward the front window.

“He knows where we live.”

I cross the hall and put my hands on his waist, pulling him closer when his fingers close in my shirt. “Yeah. I don’t like it either.”

Caelan comes up behind him, kissing the back of his head while Astra’s still holding onto my shirt. “We’re changing the codes and adding cameras.”

Astra keeps hold of me for another few seconds before his grip finally eases. “Okay. Cameras sound good.”

By noon, Caelan decides we’re leaving the house. Astra’s in the living-room nest when he announces it, surrounded by three blankets, two pillows, one of my shirts, one of Caelan’s sweaters, and the ugliest decorative cushion I’ve ever seen.

Caelan looks over the living-room nest before announcing, “We’re buying you proper bedding.”

Astra follows his attention to the pile around him. “There is nothing wrong with this.”

Caelan lifts the LIVE LAUGH LOVE pillow by one corner.

Astra stares at it for a second before sighing. “Fine. That one can go.”

An hour later, we’re standing in a bedding store when Astra finds a blanket he likes, sees the three-hundred-dollar price tag, and puts it back fast enough that Caelan notices.

Caelan retrieves it immediately. “You liked it.”

“It’s three hundred dollars.”

Astra looks at me for backup, only to watch me test the weight and leave it in the cart. “You’re both impossible.”

He complains for another aisle, but he never takes the blanket back out.

For the first twenty minutes, Astra still asks before adding anything else. Caelan keeps telling him yes while I test blankets and pillows before they stay. He argues about prices, puts two things back when he thinks we aren’t looking, then finds a dark green pillow, squeezes it once, and drops it into the cart without asking either of us. Caelan catches my eye over his head, but neither of us says a word.

By the time we leave, the back of the car is full of bedding. Astra complains about the cost from the passenger seat while holding two new blankets in his lap because he refused to put them in the trunk.

The second we get home, he starts rearranging the bedroom. He sends me toward the corner first, directing the mattress closer to the wall before spreading the new blankets across it.

Once they’re arranged, Astra’s attention lands on Caelan’s gray sweater. “Can I have that?”

Caelan pulls it off without hesitation, Astra tucking it into the nest before turning toward me with the same expectant look. I’m already stripping off my shirt by the time he opens his mouth, which earns me a small smile before he buries it with the rest of the blankets.

Twenty minutes later Astra is buried in blankets and our clothes with only his head visible. I lie down beside him while Caelan settles on the other side, Astra immediately rearranging us until my arm is under his head and Caelan’s thigh is hooked over both of ours.

Warmth spills through the bond when I settle beside him, Astra turning toward me with a small smile. “I can feel how happy you are.”