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Nyra lets out a breath of laughter, wiping beneath her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘No hugging. Got it.’

Raya gives a small, almost shy smile. ‘You’ll stay with us, then, here at Kian’s? For now, anyway, while we are all here?’

There’s a flash of something unreadable in Nyra’s eyes when Raya says his name, but it vanishes just as quickly. I wonder if there will be a power play between the two of them. They have a similar energy, as if they are both designed to always be the ones in charge.

‘If he allows it,’ she replies after a moment.

‘He will do what I tell him to,’ Cora says, and Raya rolls her eyes.

I glance at the window. The sun is completely out now, not that you can tell inside these walls. It’s a beautiful sight to see, and I feel a pang of despair at the thought of never feeling it kiss my skin again. I’m sure the longing will fade over time. There’re plenty of perks to being a vampire, I just need time to explore them all.

Raya gets to her feet, running her hands down her leggings. ‘All the St Clair girls reunited. Who would have thought there were this many of us.’

Nyra laughs softly. ‘Us all being together is more than I ever hoped for.’

Cora offers a tight-lipped smile, like she isn’t quite ready to embrace the big happy family yet, but isn’t opposed to it, either.

As Nyra slips out of the room, the three of us stay standing there in silence. Three women who didn’t grow up together. Who fought different battles. Who survived in different ways.

Now, all vampires and reunited.

Cora breaks the silence first. ‘So … we’re doing this.’ She glances between us. ‘We are allowing her into our lives. We are believing everything she has said.’

‘Yeah,’ I say quietly. ‘We are.’

Raya nods. ‘Yep. It’ll be all four of us. Together.’

Cora nods slowly. ‘Let’s hope we don’t regret it.’

I find Theo outside.

The early morning air hits me like a wave. Theo’s sitting on the back steps, elbows resting on his knees, looking out into the dark. He doesn’t look at me right away, but he knows I’m here. I sit beside him. Neither of us says anything for a while. The dawn hums around us, the distant call of a bird, the rustle of leaves.

‘I thought I’d feel better,’ I say eventually, staring at my hands.

Theo glances at me. ‘What do you mean?’

‘The war ending. I thought it would be satisfying. Instead, I feel sad and confused. I don’t know what to think about the people I lived with for so long, and now all of this with my mother … two sisters I apparently have … I don’t know how to begin to process any of it.’

‘It’s definitely a lot to take in.’

‘I want to believe her,’ I admit. ‘I mean, she looks so much like me. They all do. I feel like I can’t deny it, but it’s so much to take in. My head is going to explode. And then there’s all of this,’ I sweep my hand down my body. ‘I mean … I’m a vampire, and I haven’t even slowed down enough to let that sink in.’

He shifts slightly, turning toward me. ‘You don’t owe anyone anything. You take all the time you need.’

‘I feel like I should do more. Feel more. I mean, she’s my mother.’

‘She’s also a stranger. All of these people are to you, but I can tell you right now, Raya and Cora are the best kind of sisters to have. Fiercely protective and loyal. As for Nyra, no one really knows what she is like, but to me it seems like she’s a mother who was ripped away from her children. I think it was more difficult for her than anyone, since none of you actually knew her, but she knew about you.’

‘True. I didn’t think of it like that. From her side.’

‘It would have been terrible. Being torn away from your children like that, and then turning, knowing you may spend eternity never knowing them. That’s a kind of pain you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy.’

He’s right. I’m sure it would have been very traumatic and difficult to go through something like that. I eye Theo suspiciously, wondering when he got so wise all of a sudden.

I blow out a breath, surprised by the sting behind my eyes. Tears rise and I try to swallow them down, but it’s too late. They spill down my cheeks and I lean forward, burying my face behind my hands.

‘I’ve spent so long trying to figure out who I am and where I’ve come from, and now I have all these answers and it just feels …’ My voice cracks and I stop, pressing my fingers hard into my eyes, attempting to stop my tears, but they keep flowing.