Page 56 of Bones

The green garden dotted with falling snow swirled around us until the white flakes spun and spun, a dizzying vortex that blurred together. When the world righted, we stood in the entryway to a nice kitchen.

Or it would’ve been nice had it not been for the rotted, soulless remainder of what was once a corpse and now resembled a pile of filth.

Panic and devastation filled the air until I could choke on it. There was a rush of voices talking over each other, but I couldn’t process what was being said.

Because it wasthemsaying it.

My siblings.

They were alive.

They were together.

They were empty with heartbreak and wrath.

With death and panic.

They were full with gratitude and love.

With belonging and fate.

“Find who?” the woman next to me asked.

One of the men didn’t hesitate. Not for a millisecond.

At her question, he moved before he’d even looked over, closing the distance between them to gather her in his arms. Desperation dripped from his expression, touch, and voice. It bled from him like she’d been gone for years. “My love. My soul. My everything. I thought I lost you.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she shot back with a forced lightness that didn’t land.

Tearing his focus from her, he belatedly noticed me. His brows rose as he blinked hard, like he expected me to fade away. “Dubhloach.”

One word.

A name I hadn’t heard in ages.

I almost didn’t recognize it as my own. I’d been through countless others since then, all of them starting with a D. A nod to my real self. A connection to the past.

But at the emotion that filled me at hearing the name after all that time, it was obvious they’d been no substitute at all.

I swallowed it down and dragged my focus from Lenuson—or Lennon, as his mate called him—to sweep it across the others.

Thanatos clutched a short woman with hair so light, it was nearly white. She clutched him right back, but not because they were happy to be together. Or not only that. She seemed to need help staying upright as she swayed. Guilt, gratitude, and relief were clear on her expressive face.

Another short woman took a tentative step forward, a somber man at her back. Even though her flaming hair was replaced by pink and blue strands, I recognized my sister. She gestured around. “Yeah, we can explain this whole thing. It’ll come as a shock, but you need to trust us. You need to know who you?—”

“I know who I am.”

There was so much I wanted to say and ask, but I’d already been gone too long. The ache in my chest that’d decreased since finding Aurora grew painfully strong at my distance from her.

There’ll be time soon. My siblings and my mate.

I’ve finally found them both.

I paused long enough to take them in again. My siblings andtheirmates, all who were noticeably familiar with each other.

I’m late to the party in every way.

The toxic void at the side of the room poisoned what would’ve been a damn beautiful moment. I tilted my head as I studied the dark rot of particles that I’d only encountered once before. “Who killed an angel?”

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