Page 173 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

“If she gets upset seeing you being here, tell her I came to get you to keep Snow and our baby safe,” my brother said.

“She won’t believe it for a minute that I would have remained down there for a full day without her. I’m not going back. I’m not going anywhere. She doesn’t have to speak to me. Look at me. Acknowledge me at all. She can hate me from right across her room where I will rot for the rest of this lifetime. It’s a damn comfortable sofa, too.”

He shook his head, chuckling. “Didn’t you two have a rule about secrets? Tell each other all of them or something?”

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“For two people who share so much of their secrets, you two know nothing at all about one another.”

A newborn's wailing cry rang in the air and Kil covered his face with both hands, breathing hard.

Rain hugged his neck tightly. Even Sam stood and went by his side, hiding his head in his father’s chest that was now shaking from sobs.

“Congratulations, brother,” I said, bringing him for a hug, too. “One more Castemont and we will be ready to take on the heavens.”

He chuckled, grabbing the back of my head and hugging me like I was ten years old again. “Your turn now. I’m done, brother.”

Done being afraid, he wanted to say. “Don’t let Snow hear that.”

He wiped a hand over his eyes. “She is already angry at me. Can’t get much worse.”

Patting his chest, I pulled back and hugged Sam and Rain, too. “Your little brother is lucky to have you two to protect him like your father protected me.”

The two gave one another proud smiles and then hugged each other tightly.

The door to Snow’s room cracked open just slightly to frame Thora’s tear-streaked face. “She wants to see you,” she hiccupped, beaming at Kilian, not even noticing me standing beside him.

She’d told me to go. She’d told me I was free. She’d told me she would never forgive me. But I stayed. I was never free either way. And I would beg for her forgiveness until our very next life. Or I would live like that—with her hating me. Forever, if she must.

The moment she noticed me, her lips parted, and she went stiller than the shadows around us.

Kil stood and carefully guided Thora to take his place beside me, placing Rain and Sam on her lap to trap her in place next to me.

“He’s so little,” she said to them, finally quenching their curiosity and trying her best to not look at me.

“It’s okay, auntie,” Rain said, taking her brother’s hand. “We are big. Baby brother is safe.”

“He sure is,” she said, and then turned to me to whisper, “I think I fainted at some point. I have a bump in my head and don’t recollect getting it.”

That made me laugh, hard.

“I thought you’d already left,” she whispered.

“Are you going to tell me to leave a second time?”

Her mouth opened and closed a few times. “No. I can only do it once. I lack the strength to do it again.”

“I don’t think I can ever leave even if you did. I’m not a free man, Rora. I’ve never been a free man since you entered my life. I’m chained to you for life, but I love you too much to tell you that there are still chains and shackles holding you back. I love you too much to be another shackle you wear.”

Rain gasped as she looked up at us, and Sam took her hand. “How about we go for a walk?”

My niece giggled by her brother’s side while they animatedly chatted by a far window.

“You lied to me,” she said, her voice choking.