Page 35 of Hers to Keep

Tristan stood slowly and moved to stand between them, holding one arm out to each of them.They launched at him in unison and tackled him in a hug so fierce Mari was afraid they might break him.With a small noise of surprise, Tristan wrapped an arm around each of them.Halcyon burrowed into the crook of his neck and Clarion pressed his face to the phoenix’s temple.

Mari took Rio’s hand, and the two of them slipped out of the kitchen to give the three of them a little privacy.

“Thank you,” Rio said as he pulled her into a hug.

She enjoyed the way he held her, embracing her with his entire body all at once.“What for?”

He pulled back to look at her.“For caring enough to help him.I couldn’t figure out what he needed, and I was so afraid to share too much and hurt him.What did you say to him?”

“He was afraid that there were more holes in his memory than he knew about, and he had left someone else behind the same way he had you.So I thought we could chart out the time for him and help him see if there was any time missing.Then I told him about what happened with Dante, and how Cisco holds some of our memories.”

“My sexy-ass queen is brilliant.”He leaned to kiss her briefly.“I never thought of telling him about what Cisco did for us.Of course that helped him feel better.It gave him a frame of reference.”

“I’m sure you would have gotten there eventually,” Mari said.“You were just focused on trying to make things normal for him, which was perfect, but he also needed to step back and think about what he might have lost.”

She had thought more than her fair share about painful memories and how some were worth holding onto and some needed to be let go.

There were lessons in the pain sometimes, things that you could only learn that way.Some pain offered a kind of growth that you couldn’t achieve except by allowing yourself to feel it and remember it.But cruelty, especially when committed casually, as her father and Vincent so frequently had, rarely offered anything worth learning.

Thinking of that struggle made her pull Rio into another fierce hug.He chuckled softly as he buried his face in her hair.“What prompted this outburst?”

“Just thinking about everything you’ve been through.”She rubbed his back.“I know there are things you don’t want to talk about, but I want you to know that none of that would ever change the way I feel.You are who you are because of everything that’s happened, and I love all of who you are.”

“Te quiero.”He clutched her tighter.“Siempre.”

Mari laughed when he scooped her up into his arms.“Where are you taking me this time?”

“There’s this beach near here that a friend of mine built that we never got to enjoy properly.”He kissed the hollow of her throat, making her hum with pleasure at the soft caress of his lips.

“That sounds delightful.”She kicked off her shoes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and put everything but him out of her mind for a while.

Chapter 12

Mariwastuckedintoan armchair in the library, trying her best to concentrate on a book that Willow had found about Hellish contracts.Saints, she was so fucking tired.She’d already nearly fallen asleep twice, thanks to how exhausted she was and, she had to admit, a not particularly enthralling subject matter.It seemed like contracts were boring no matter who signed them.

When Ashdei strolled into the room as if he belonged there, she thought it was a dream, and she hoped it was a naughty one, because he looked good enough to eat.He was in his human guise, six-and-a-half feet of muscle and raw menace that she took in with a slow sweep of her eyes.

“A man could get used to you looking at him like that,” he said, his voice deep and dark as a chasm.Unless she very much missed her guess, he was actually preening under her attention.

“You’re no man,” Willow said from their position across the room.They hadn’t moved or sounded any sort of alarm, as Mari had explained as much as she knew about the situation when asking for the book.Because of the details of the contract, the sphinx thought Ashdei no threat, at least not at the moment.

He showed them his teeth in a taunting grin.“Figure of speech.”

Mari asked the question on her mind with no preamble.“How are you here?”

“Since I don’t think you’re asking about the metaphysics of cross-realm teleportation, I’ll assume you mean in your home.“

Willow scoffed.“Oh, he’s funny.”

Mari leveled an unamused look their way.“Don’t encourage him.”She returned her attention to the demon who had invaded her house.“How are you inside the wards?We put them back after the party.You shouldn’t be able to get through.”

“I thought we covered this already, but perhaps I need to clarify.”He walked closer, almost lazily.“I’m yours, Mariana, and your magic will always allow me entry.”

“But how can that be?I never met you before the party, and I don’t feel anything toward you.”

His lips quirked.“Tell your magic that.”

With a start, she realized that her magic had already unfurled to welcome him, the way it did any of her men.She tried to pull it back, but her magic wouldn’t cooperate.His smile warmed when she met his eyes again.

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