Page 112 of The Defiant Curse

Hopefully, she’d not be his end.

Heading down the hallway, he admired the furniture, the tapestries, and it entertained him that they owned a castle.

This was ridiculous, but very on par to Callen’s life.

Of course, Jackson James and Christopher Leonard saw a vision here.

What he did know was his kids were going to be ecstatic coming here.

What kid got this kind of adventure?

He couldn’t wait to see it happen. Between his boys and the girls that reminded him of their mother, it was going to be fun to see them enjoy this place.

The kid in him wanted to enjoy it too. It wasn’t like everyone could call a castle home.

It was like a dream.

Or a coma.

All he could hope was that none of them woke up from this.

In the library, it felt very much like a Chris and Callen thing, too. His brother loved books, and there was no doubt that he’d had every one he’d ever read put here.

In fact, some looked familiar.

As he got closer, his heart skipped in his chest when he saw that there was a whole section of Gene’s books. They were the ones he’d put in storage after the man left him behind, and then moved to the brownstone that they’d given Gene in case he wanted out of the family.

But here they were, transported from DC to this side of the world.

That Callen thought to give them this…

To include them…

He was a good man, and Ethan was lucky to have him in his life. As of late, he seemed to be the ONLY one not carrying his weight in the relationship.

And that hurt.

What he knew was he had to do better.

If they were going to survive, he needed to make sure everything changed so they had a stronger foundation to build upon as a family.

On top of that, Ethan knew going forward he needed to be more present for his spouses.

They’d been carrying the weight while he faltered after Javier Hughes and David Neives. Now, he’d make sure he helped carry it.

Heading past the dining room with the ridiculously large table, he followed the stone hallway, and it opened up into the main entrance of the castle. There were stairs that went up, and he knew they went to additional rooms for guests.

Callen specifically wanted family and security in the tower, and visitors over here. What caught his attention wasn’t the detail.

It was the painting over the fireplace.

As soon as he saw it, it stole his breath.

Holy shit.

It was his wife.

Moving closer, he stared up at it, and her riotous hair was fanned out in a breeze, as she stood before Ravensmire wearing all black.