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I brushed the loosened strands of her hair back behind her ears. “Why don’t we give the meds a chance to kick in and then reassess? And even if we stay in this bed all night watching whatever documentary you’ve chosen for the evening, then I can hardly call that wasted.” My lips curved into a smile. “I personally found last night’s selection on the sex lives of historical figures to be particularly illuminating.”
The fact that she never stopped learning was just another thing to love about her.
She grinned, but it fell quickly. “There will be good days again, right?”
“Absolutely.” I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Good nights, anyways.”
“Nights. Right. Promise?” Her eyes fluttered shut.
“I promise.” It was the first vow I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep.
* * *
“I declarethis to be a good night!” Grace said the next night, holding onto the kitchen counter as she slid onto one of the barstools.
I grinned and slid a smoothie across the island for her.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile in a week,” Talon noted, reaching past me for an apple. “It’s because you’ve gotten out of every formal evening repast this week, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” I gave him a thumbs up and moved around the island to sit at my girl’s side. “What are you guys up to tonight?”
“Patrolling the houses on the half-blood list and hoping we stumble onto another lead.” Talon scratched the back of his neck. “I’m getting really fucking sick of hoping we’re lucky. There has to be a better way to track them do—” His voice died as Daphne walked into the kitchen.
Valor’s cousin pulled her strawberry-blonde hair into a knot on top of her head and opened the refrigerator. “No need to go all quiet around me, you know. I’m well aware of what goes on here. Death. Dying. Mayhem. Hunting down the assholes in my family and killing them so they don’t commit more acts of assholery.” She shrugged.
I laughed, the sound rumbling in my chest.
“You don’t think that’s a little heavy for a seventeen-year-old?” Grace asked, then wrapped her lips around the smoothie’s straw in a way that made me remember exactly how they felt wrapped around my cock.
Great. And now I was hard.
I kept my ass firmly behind the island and tried to think of the unsexiest thing possible. The problem? Grace was right beside me, declaring it was a good night.
“I mean, you’re the one with weeks to live,” Daphne said, pulling out a carton of yogurt and shutting the refrigerator as she turned toward Grace. “I’d say that’s far heavier than me having to take night classes because I nearly ended up in a teenage marriage and was saved by a bunch of vampires, one of whom happens to be mated to my cousin. And you seem…pretty well-adjusted.” She blinked at my mate and opened her yogurt. “Maybe this is just where the people handling heavy things end up.” She shared a soft smile with Grace.
“Maybe,” Grace agreed and sipped at her smoothie.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a history test tonight, and if I fail, I have a feeling a particular demon is going to kidnap half the Edgemont University history department to tutor me so it doesn’t happen again.” She took her yogurt and walked off.
“Catch you guys later.” Talon gave me a wave and followed, heading out the door with the rest of my brothers.
“Should you be with them?” Grace asked, worry putting two lines between her eyebrows.
“I’m exactly where I need to be.” I kissed her temple and a mischievous idea came to mind. “Well, there’s one other place I could be, but only if you swear you’re feeling good tonight, and only if you’re up for walking across the courtyard.”
She arched an eyebrow at me. “What do you have in mind?”
“Finish that smoothie, and I’ll show you.”
A wicked smile curved my mouth.
A half-hour later, I held Grace’s hand as we walked across the courtyard toward the Domum. Her sundress swished around her thighs with every step, and my blood ran thick and hot just thinking about what I was going to do with her.
“You promise you’re feeling well?” I asked for the fourteenth time.
“Promise.” She squeezed my hand. “The meds are helping, I think. Barely any pain. No nausea.”
The drugs were masking the symptoms, but they weren’t treating the cause.
