Page 12 of Daman

He smiled before popping a grape into his mouth.

The table had been set with scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage links, and fresh fruit. Kyo fed Castor a strawberry before lightly kissing him. They were still in that honeymoon phase. I got a feeling they’d never leave that stage.

“Stop. You’re going to make me fat,” Simon complained as Galen piled more food on his plate.

“But you love pancakes.” Galen tilted his head at his mate.

“Yeah.” Simon slapped his stomach. “A bit too much.”

With a low growl, Galen pulled Simon’s chair closer and whispered something too low for my ears, but it made Simon blush like crazy and gently push Galen away with a laugh.

They’re so perfect together.

Bastards.

“Well, my appetite is ruined,” I said.

“Bullshit.” Raiden dropped two pancakes on my plate, along with some fruit. “Tell Envy to fuck off for a while. It’s a long flight to Russia. You need to eat.”

Blueberry pancakes. My favorite. “Thanks.”

“Huh?” Raiden grinned. “Did you really just thank me?”

“Shut up.” I took a bite, keeping my gaze lowered.

Alastair would be coming with me to Russia so he and King Nikolai could discuss the war efforts. We’d be taking our private jet, so at least I wouldn’t have to deal with crowds of people at the airport. Even worse, be stuck with them on a plane for the eleven-hour flight.

After breakfast, I packed my bags, making sure I had warm clothes.

I wasn’t a stranger to cold weather. While nice in the spring and summer, winters in Dacia had been cold with heavy snowfall. With little shelter, it had been brutal, but Lycus and I had burrowed under blankets and kept the fire burning as best as we could. And sometimes, Morys had let us sleep in his shop when a big snowstorm had come through.

Both of them had been dead for a long time.

“You don’t talk about your past much.” Bellamy stood in the doorway. He wore a fitted blue sweater and his medium-length hair swooped a bit to the side, giving him a classic preppy look.

“No reason to. As Alastair likes to remind us, nothing good comes from dwelling on the past. What’s done is done. Also, fuck you.” I tossed a pillow at him. “Stop prying into my mind.”

He caught the pillow and tucked it under his arm. “I didn’t mean to. Your thoughts were really loud.” A pause. “You were so different back then. Happy is too strong of a word, but you seemed… hopeful, I guess. Not as bitter.”

I stuffed another sweater inside my bag. “I grew up.”

“Yeah. We all did.”

Heaving a sigh, I sat on the edge of my bed and scrubbed my hands over my face. “Fuck. What have I gotten myself into?”

He sat beside me. “Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

“I’ll be so alone there, Bell. Alastair will be with me for a few days, and I know the rest of you are flying out for the wedding, but once you come back to Echo Bay, I’ll be a world away from you guys.”

“Not from all of us.”

I peeked up at him, confused. The color of his eyes constantly changed. Blue, hazel, green, purple. Never settling on one.

“I’m going with you, bitch.” Bellamy hit me with the pillow.

“You are?”

“Duh. Like I’d really let you go to a kingdom filled with sexy-as-fuck ice dragons without me.”