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Dr. Han wants me tostart talking to the people in my life about what’s happening with me. Because, well, I…haven’t yet.
At all.
No one, and I mean no one, knows about the toxic blood poisoning my body from the inside out. Not Gabriel, not Alistair, not Maeve;no one.
And I’m fucking going to keep it that way.
Losing Layla was hard. For all of us, of course, but I was only eleven when it happened. Meanwhile my brothers were twenty-two. I vaguely remember losing my sister. But I’ll never forget the way it scarred and ripped open Alistair and Gabriel.
They’ve been through enough already. They don’t need to spend the next six-to-eight months of their lives worrying about me dropping dead in the street.
“Tempest, it’s often helpful to open up about your fears or how you’re feeling to family and loved ones. Not just for them, but for you, too.”
“I said I’mfine, Dr. Han,” I say quietly, my voice thin but hard as my brows knit. “And if you say a word?—”
He stops me with a raised hand. “There are ethical codes, you know that. And even if there weren’t, I would never in a million years go behind a patient’s back like that, okay?” He smiles, but it’s the smile of a man looking at a wilting flower. “It wasn’t a threat, just…” He shrugs. “It can help—talking to loved ones, I mean.”
It wasn’t a threat…
Idohave a tendency to take everything as one, I’ll admit. I have to: it’s part of the armor I’ve worn since I was seventeen. I’d say I should work on that, but…
Yeah.That.
Dr. Han clears his throat. “Well, is there anything new going on in your life?”
“I’ve been making a short list of places to have my thirtieth birthday.”
Dr. Han looks worried for a second. When I grin, his shoulders relax and he clears his throat awkwardly.
“Just a little gallows humor, Doc.”
“Yeah, uh, hilarious.” He smiles. “Though, humor in generalcanbe helpful.” He sighs as he rearranges my tests into a neat pile in front of him. “Well, unless there’s anything else, I’ll see you in three weeks?—”
“Also, I’m getting married.”
It flies out of me, I have absolutely no idea why. Or worse, why I fuckingblushwhen I say it.
Dr. Han’s brows shoot up. “Oh?” He smiles warmly. “Well, congratulations, Tempest! I didn’t realize you had a partner.”
“It’s pretty new.” I shrug. “He’s in the mafia and runs a sex club.”
Dr. Han’s brows knit for a second, then he smiles wryly. “More gallows humor, huh?”
Nope, that one’s real.
“Tempest.”
I flinch at the touch on my arm, whipping my head around to gape at Taylor.
Her fiery auburn brows knit. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Generally, Iamsomewhat skittish, especially if someone comes up behind me without me hearing it. But Taylor didn’t exactly sneak up on me. I mean, it’s the middle of the afternoon, I’m standing in the middle of my bedroom, and the door to the room is wide open behind me.
Taylor’s been like a big sister to me since I was a kid, when she and my brothers met at Knightsblood University. As far as I know, there’s never been anything romantic between her and either of them—or between her andanyone, given that she’s married to her job. They’re just three good friends who went on to law school together after college, and eventually started Crown and Black, building it into the powerhouse legal firm it is today.
“I was just…”
I trail off, my face reddening.
