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I kiss her before she can overthink this any further.

Like me, she has a racing mind. She needs peace and reassurance. I try to give it to her through that kiss.

“Thank you,” she whispers against my lips.

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?” I ask, wiping her tears away. Her lashes are wet from crying, and there are splotches of red on her cheeks. It breaks my heart to see her upset over something.

“Thank you, but I’m good,” she says, kissing the inside of my palm. “I want to go see the kids.”

After we get dressed, I take her to the backyard, where the kids are playing, before I go back upstairs to Alaric’s room.

I find him wearing a giant pair of black headphones.

“Hey,” I say.

“I can’t even look at you right now.” He says, shaking his head.

“Why?”

“You know we have adjoining rooms, right?” he asks. “I can hear every little thing that goes on in the guest bedroom.”

I grin and sit down in a lounge chair.

“That’s what you get for building a house made mostly of glass,” I say. “I told you not to do it.”

“I’m just glad the children’s room was far away,” he says. “They would have been traumatized.”

“I thought you wanted Emma and me to patch things up,” I say.

“You were at it forhours,” he says. “Hours.”

“I missed her, man,” I say. “We were apart for too long.”

He sighs.”Fine. I forgive you for all the grunting and dirty talk.”

“I never apologized,” I say.

“I don’t know why I even put up with you.” He sighs.

“Any updates on Richard?” I ask.

“He didn’t die, so there’s that,” he says.

“Of course, he didn’t die,” I say. “If I wanted to kill him, I would have.”

“He’s in a conscious state, so wecan try talking to him again,” Alaric says. “Maybe we can do things my way this time. Also, we’re having a party tonight.”

“Your way?” I ask.

“The truth serum,” he says. “I don’t care about the theatrics anymore. I just want to know if he’s hiding something or not. After we get that information, you can skinhim alive or carve out his heart or whatever it is that you want to do.”

“Yeah, that sounds fine,” I say. “Also, what party?”

“Emma’s friends are joining us for dinner,” Alaric says. “I also invited a few other people.”

“Really?” I ask. “Right now, when we’re in the middle of all this?”

“I can’t think of a better time,” he says. “You and Emma are back together and expecting a baby. Everyone’s safe from thefire. The psycho stalker is dead. We have so many reasons to celebrate.”