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An indulgent laugh left Nisha. “I should have known.”

Alex focused on shaking off her discomfort as the four of them travelled down a hallway, her efforts succeeding as she became distracted by the portraits on the walls. They showed mostly Jeera and Kaiden at various ages throughout their lives. Sometimes Nisha was there as well, and a few revealed a man and woman who could only be Kaiden and Jeera’s parents. It was bittersweet for Alex to look at them, knowing what had happened but also sensing the love that this small family had for each other, even in death.

The portraits came to an end when they reached a comfortable living room lit by a roaring fireplace. Toasty warm, Alex removed her coat and took a seat on the well-worn couch beside Kaiden. Part of her wanted to put distance between them, if only to be careful what message they were sending, but another part realised there was little point in doing so, not when Jeera was still looking so amused. Nisha, too, seemed to be holding back her humour by sheer willpower.

Reprieve was offered when the two women went to prepare some supper, and Alex took advantage of their absence to turn to Kaiden and hiss, “Thanks for the warning.”

“You’re very welcome,” he said, his voice bubbling with mirth. Then, seeing her glare, his face gentled and he added, “Relax, Alex. It’s not like you haven’t met them before.”

“This is different, and you know it.”

He, at least, didn’t try to deny it. But his features did gentle even more—enough that his soft, knowing expression took her breath away.

Dazed, Alex jumped slightly when Jeera and Nisha reentered the room. A moment later there was a bowl of Nisha’s ‘award-winning’ chocolate mousse on her lap—the award part making sense after Alex’s first mouthful.

Eyes drifting shut with pleasure, she only reopened them so she could turn to the commander and say, “Youmadethis?”

Looking pleased by Alex’s reaction, Nisha said, “Secret family recipe.”

“It’s divine,” Alex said, scooping more into her mouth. There was some kind of berry complementing the dish—a hybrid Alex didn’t recognise until she popped one in her mouth. Surprised, she examined the purple star-shaped forms that were scattered within her bowl. “Are these dillyberries?”

“You’ve never seen dillyberries before?” Nisha asked.

“Not from here, remember?” Alex said, pointing to herself. It was oddly liberating, being able to speak freely about her origins. “I’ve had the juice, but never the fruit on its own.” She squinted at the star again, noting its glittery shine, and added, “It’s pretty.”

“Pretty or not, they still pack a punch,” Jeera said, her tone revealing that she was speaking from experience. “They may be smaller than a glass of juice, but they’re also more concentrated. Be careful how many you have, or Kaiden will be carrying you out of here.”

Alex, in the process of raising a second berry to her mouth, promptly placed it back in the bowl. “I think I’ll stick with the mousse.”

Quiet chuckles met her statement before Nisha asked again, “Are you two finally going to share what brings you out tonight, or do we have to guess?”

Licking her spoon, Alex looked to Kaiden, curious what he would say. She shouldn’t have been surprised when he told them the truth.

“I took Alex out to Heartstone Grove,” he said. “Told her about Mum and Dad.”

Alex still felt raw from their visit. But she also found that she no longer minded the surprise trip to see the rest of his family, realising that perhaps Kaiden needed this. Fifteen years may have passed, but it can’t have been easy for him to visit his parents’ graves. Seeing his aunt and sister after that—Alex was suddenly very glad they had come.

“I’m surprised Declan didn’t demand to go along with you,” Jeera said, after the short, surprised pause that followed Kaiden’s statement. Her intuitive gift might have forewarned her of their arrival, but apparently nothing more. “Isn’t he still on a mission to find some toy he lost there?”

Kaiden huffed out a laugh and Alex turned to him in question.

“That’s where Declan and I first met,” he shared. “At Heartstone. He was a patient for part of the time I was there—he’d fallen out of a tree and shattered the bones in both his arms, needing a few days to recover while the Regenevators did their work.”

Alex wasn’t surprised to hear that about the lumbering, adventurous Declan. Even as a three-year-old, some things didn’t change.

“In true Declan style, he was bored enough to leave his bed, wander off and get lost, ending up in my room.” Kaiden shook his head slightly, as if he still couldn’t believe the other boy’s antics. “He gave me his jelly cup, and in return, I gave him my Sarinpox.”

It wasn’t funny, not in the slightest. And yet, Alex could vividly imagine the two young boys in hospital together, driving the medical staff up the walls. The picture was enough to bring a smile to her lips as she sought to keep the mood light and said, “Seems like a fair trade to me.”

Her comment had the desired effect, prompting another short laugh from Kaiden, this time with Nisha and Jeera joining in, too.

“I’m not sure he’d agree to that,” Kaiden said. “If only because he lost his favourite action figure when the hospital was abandoned. He’s adamant that it’s still there, no matter how many times we’ve gone back to search the ruins for it.”

“Jaxon is convinced you’re a bad influence on him,” Nisha said, hiding her grin by sipping from a mug of tea.

“Jaxon is convincedeveryoneis a bad influence,” Jeera said, rolling her eyes. “He might be invaluable when it comes to politics and matters of state, but the man has no social diplomacy whatsoever.”

That much, Alex recalled for herself.