A surge of melancholy chases after the fragrance.
This is a different world, one where I never stood under that tree exchanging a few final words with my best friend before he headed home. A world where I never knew Asher well enough to have ended up stealing his life with my glim.
And I’m going to keep it that way.
As I climb the creaky steps to the porch, needles of apprehension creep up my back. This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to the Raith house before. The first time I’ll ever go inside.
Funny that my first visit isn’t happening because either of the brothers actually wants me here but to keep the bonds between us hidden.
I push through my instinctive hesitation to knock. Coleopens the door within seconds, dressed in an immaculate button-up and slacks even on his day off, and ushers me in with a wary glance over my head toward the street beyond.
He suggested that we start meeting at his home rather than his office so there was less chance of anyone noticing. It makes sense, but I’m surprised he’s willing to let any of us into his and Asher’s private abode. He turned down Salvatore’s offer of using the downtown condo with a caustic remark about preferring not to put his trust in known criminals.
As I step into the living room I’ve never seen before with its own all-too-familiar scents, Salvatore bounds over to wrap me up in a firm embrace. His darkly musky essence mingles with the sharp, piney notes I know are Cole’s and the warm amber that’s Asher’s.
My throat constricts all over again.
“About time,” Salvatore says in a buoyantly heckling tone. “If I had to spend much longer with just these void-heads for company, I’d have been ready to snuff myself.”
I shift my elbow backward to poke him in the gut. “Play nice with my other matches.”
He lets out a huff that’s only mildly disgruntled.
Cole has taken up his usual glower, which I can’t totally blame him for this once. Asher stands awkwardly at the other end of the room, raking a hand through his fawn-brown hair.
As always, looking at him dredges up a torrent of memories I’d rather tune out. I jerk my gaze away to take in the living room around us.
It’s barely big enough to hold the threadbare sofa, the narrow console table with its TV that’s maybe a quarter the size of the one in the Devine’s TV nook, and the four of us. Through the doorway beyond Asher, I make out the yellow cabinets of the kitchen and the two-seater table I saw him and his brother eating at when I peeked in on them weeks ago.
Cole’s office at the academy might be less discreet, but it gives us a little more room to congregate.
How absurd is it that our prestigious school doesn’t pay their professors enough to afford them a home more comfortable than their workspace?
At another knock, Cole snatches at the door. Salvatore leans in to kiss my cheek just as Byron strides into the house.
The sight of the man I was so intimately entwined with yesterday brings a giddy flutter into my chest. Byron’s dark gaze takes in me in Salvatore’s arms, and a little of yesterday’s heat flares in his eyes.
Cole answers the question of space with a sweep of his arm. “Now that we’re all here, we should head to the basement. It’ll be easier to guard against eavesdroppers, if any of you were followed.”
Salvatore releases me so we can tramp down a dim set of stairs into the musty, concrete-floored room below. A paired washer and dryer squat against one wall while the furnace hums in a far corner. The closed door off to the side must lead to Asher’s bedroom, if the brothers have laid out their two floors of the rental house the same way he told me they did in my old reality.
They’ve arranged five mismatched chairs in a circle in the middle of the space, which is probably the biggest open area in the whole building. Cole tips his head toward them.
Before I can move, Byron slips his arm around my waist. He offers a gentle nuzzle and a peck to my temple that has my heart skipping a beat.
And not just because of the pleasure his affection brings. Professor Raith’s stance goes rigid, and then his eyes narrow with obvious understanding.
His voice comes out harsh. “You activated his glim? What the fuck were you thinking? We agreed?—”
Byron tenses against me, but I jump in before he has to. “We didn’t agree—you started giving orders. Youdon’t have any more authority in this union than the rest of us. We were careful about it. The more we find out about the people we’re up against, the clearer it’s becoming that we need every advantage we can get.”
I’m not going to mention the more personal reasons I had for waking up Byron’s full powers—or the family conflicts he told me in confidence. The soft squeeze of his fingers against my waist feels like a thank you.
“Nothing was damaged except a couple of trees, and there was no one around to see,” he says with his usual poise. He holds out his other hand, and sparks whirl up over his palm before crackling away when he closes his fist. “I can wield electricity. There are at least a few ways that could come in handy.”
Salvatore guffaws, his gaze intent with maybe a hint of jealousy before he aims a smirk at Cole. “The professor’s just pissed that he doesn’t havehisglim yet. Maybe if you showed our match the devotion she deserves…”
Cole’s jaw has clenched so hard the tendons stand out in his neck. He jerks his hand toward the chairs. “It sounds to me like I haven’t been hard enough on her. Everyone just sit down.”