Page 261 of Forged in the Fire
“And good morning to you.” It was riddled with emotion.
She stalled out a little, concern twisting into her brow. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything is amazing,” I told her.
You know, other than the fact Silas and his club were going out on some secret mission to avenge his mother that somehow involved my brother.
Something that would protect me and Elena.
It was so convoluted, but I had faith that Silas would help me understand once it was over.
Sweet suspicion wound into Elena’s expression. “You seem different.”
Her eyes patted me down like she was going to find contraband stashed under my sleep shirt.
“Nope, nothing different here. Is coffee ready?” I peeped, angling for a distraction.
I had a hunch Silas wouldn’t want me to be shouting from the heavens about what happened between us last night. Not until he figured out how to handle it.
“Do you think we’re heathens?” she deadpanned.
I choked over a laugh. “Have you visited the clubhouse?”
She laughed, too, and she kept ascending the stairs. “Okay, fine, but heathens like their coffee just as much as anyone else.”
“Thank God.”
She went to go by me, only she grabbed my hand as she passed. “You look happy, Brinley, and that makes me happy, too.”
And I wondered how long it’d been since I’d been truly, truly happy. Without the constraints of trying to care for my brother and knowing I was failing.
Failing my mother.
Failing myself.
And I knew I didn’t have to bear all of that alone anymore.
I knew I was supported.
Knew I found the piece that I’d been missing.
“I am,” I whispered.
Her nod was soft like maybe she understood it, then she went bounding up the rest of the stairs and down the hall.
While I edged closer to the kitchen.
Swells of Silas’s aura rippled out of the archway.
A freaking beacon that I couldn’t do anything but follow.
I turned through the opening.
I’d thought my heart was at capacity, but God, it ballooned by five sizes. I guess I finally understood what the Grinch was feeling.
Kai was in his highchair, eating these dry little snacks that melted in his mouth, his nose all scrunched up in joy when he saw me. “Bwinwey!”
When I walked out of his room last night, I thought it’d be the last time I’d ever see him, and my soul broke free at the sight of his precious face.
