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“I’m sorry you’ve waited so long—” he began.
“I almost thought you guys forgot about me,” I interrupted.
“I understand,” Nox said as he took a seat next to me. “But, Logan, we wouldneverforget you. You’re a part of us now. I have felt your absence like an ache, and I know the other two feel it just the same. It’s just been hard… we’ve had to restart our entire lives, reevaluate, adapt to the modern world…”
“You’re right,” I said, leaning into his strong shoulder. “You spent almost two centuries trapped, and then to have the floodgates opened? It had to be terrifying. I’m not mad, and you deserve a little grace,” I bit my lip and stared into his ruby eyes, hoping my gaze could convey my words properly. “It’s just… well, I ached for you as well.”
“None of us, not myself, or Thorn, or even Ruse’s stubborn ass, want to exist without you,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have taken so long to reach out to you and let you know I was there, but once we left the property, we all sort of bolted in three directions to stretch our legs.”
He moved his hand to rest on my thigh and affectionately squeezed it.
“When you spend so many endless days, months, years trapped in one place, every sunrise and sunset runs together like an endless sea,” Nox continued. “None of us realized how many weeks had passed since we said goodbye,but—” He took a breath. “But each of us arrived back at the mansion within a day of one another, and we caught up in the attic like old times.”
I couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle at the thought of such a reunion.
“It’s like you three all share part of one brain,” I joked.
“Give us some credit, Logan. I, at least, have the lion’s share of our collective brain,” he said as he gave me a playful nudge with his shoulder. “Besides, none of us missed themansion.We missed you.”
“I really missed you all, too,” I said for what felt like the thousandth time, but god, did I mean it.
“Well, in that case,” Nox said as he patted my thigh and rose to stand. “Would you care to accompany me back to the mansion? It’s pretty much exactly how we left it.”
I stood up after him and stretched my arms upward. My gaze pulled to my laptop and the school work I’d left unfinished as I weighed the pros and cons for all ofmaybefour seconds.
“I’d love to,” I said as I wrapped my arm around his middle. “But maybe just for the weekend? I’ve still got to stick around here often enough so Blair and my dad don’t get too suspicious.”
“That can absolutely be arranged,” he said with a Cheshire grin.
I bolted to where I had been sitting and grabbed my phone to send Blair a quick text so she wouldn’t worry.
going home for the wknd. nothing wrong. just wanna chill with dad before school. love u, be back sunday to help pack up.
As soon as I saw the blue message appear in the thread of our conversation, I shoved my phone in my back pocket.
“Give me thirty seconds,” I said over my shoulder to Nox as I bolted to Blair’s bedroom to throw the collection of random clothes that had acquired there into my backpack before moving on to the bathroom to snag the essentials.
“Oh,” Nox said, speaking out enough for me to hear from my bedroom with the snap of his fingers. “I meant to ask—what of the knife? Did you end up destroying it?”
“One-hundred percent.” I responded as I peeked my head out from the doorway. “I couldn’t get the fire hot enough to melt the blade itself entirely, so I buried it in the back of the property.”
“That’s good news.” Nox sighed. “I really hate the idea of that thing floating around in the world somewhere.”
I emerged from my and Blair’s shared bathroom with what I knew was a shit-eating grin. I was too happy to police my expression, and I felt like I was walking on air as I closed the gap between myself and where Nox waited for me in the living room.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked.
“More than ready,” I said excitedly. My legs quaked in his presence, and it felt like my heart was pushing up into my throat. I couldn’twaitto get back to the others.
Nox gestured for me to come to him. “Perfect. Let’s see if I can make this work for both of us.”
He cleared his throat, and before I could even make sense of what was going on, I felt myself lift away from the ground as Nox turned us both into his signature black mist, and the view of the living room faded away from sight.
