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“You don’t need to give me anything,” Hel said. “My gift is you.”

As much as she appreciated that sentiment, and she knew he meant it, she still wanted to give him something special. She paused and conjured the gift from the aether to her hand. It was a magenta, leather-bound book with gold-encrusted edges and a decorative heart with extravagant swirls at the center. “It’s not much.”

He smiled, bringing out his dimple and took it. “What is it?”

“It’s the journal I started the day after our first kiss. It’s the history of our time together, up through our wedding and about a year after.”

“You started a heart journal after only one kiss? I’m flattered.” He grinned even wider.

“We both knew our lives were going to change after that.”

“I knew the moment I met you. It didn’t take a kiss.” He ran his fingertips over the heart of the journal. “You never let me read your journals.”

“Well, I’m giving you this one to read. If you want to.”

He tucked it inside his suit jacket. “Oh, I will be absolutely reading every word of it. Thank you, love. You may not think it’s a special gift but it’s more than anything I’d ever ask for.”

The song changed and Presco stepped in for a turn. “Do you mind if I dance with her for a moment, Hel?”

Hel patted his shoulder. “I suppose, but don’t get too handsy or my threat about making your skull a decoration in my study still stands.”

Presco laughed. “I’m always proper with her.”

Valeen took his hand, and they began stepping to the music. “I appreciate you taking time away from your family and business to be here with me. I know it’s a lot to ask. But we’ll get our home back and rebuild.”

“You don’t even have to ask, Valeen. I’m at your side. I would bring my wife here, but I fear it’s too dangerous right now. She understands.”

“Ayva seems like a wonderful person.”

“She is.”

Valeen watched Hel pull Aunt Evalyn from behind the bar top, and to keep from laughing, she lightly sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. The look on Aunt Evalyn’s face was a mixture of horror and curiosity as he dragged her onto the dance floor and spun her in a circle. Everyone joined in then; Fennan and Piper, Thane and Katana, Tif and Tommy, even Leif, pulling one of Aunt Evalyn’s human waitresses.

Once the song changed Leif was next to tap her shoulder. He, of course, said inappropriate flirtatious things Valeen hoped Hel didn’t hear. Thane held Tif for a dance. It was the most adorable thing she’d ever seen. Tif beamed too, like it was the greatest moment of her life.

Time seemed to fly by as they mingled, danced, and ate. Before she knew it, Hel whispered in ear, “We have a night away to get to, and two horses out back who would love to take us there.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Chapter 46

THANE

Too much wine made Thane’s body uncomfortably warm. He took off his jacket and undid a few buttons at the top of his tunic. Valeen danced with Hel in the center of Nerium Oleander. She giggled at something he said, and he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss below her ear and then they were saying their goodbyes.

He might have been upset, wallowing in his wine, but someone else had him enraptured.

Katana. Even the sound of her name in his thoughts was like a song stuck on repeat.

The way her hips swayed moving around the room. How everything about her seemed to glow, from her bright hair to her golden skin. It had been a day since he’d caught her dancing, and they gave into each other once more on the rug.

They hadn’t been alone together since, and it was eating him alive.

Was she avoiding him after she confessed to Valeen what happened? The only reason he even knew that she told Valeen was because Tif told him. She’d apparently been eavesdropping.

When he asked Katana to dance earlier, their conversation was very… stilted. Almost as if she was regretting sleeping with him again. He took another sip of wine. He shouldn’t have given in a second time, even if he could hardly think of anything else.