“As awful as she is, she’s your only living relative. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me messing with her head like that,” he explained as he led me toward the back of the house. “And I didn’t want to spend every visit with her using compulsion so she wouldn’t say something that incited me to end her miserable life. Sending her away killed two birds with one stone. The second being that her presence simply pisses me the fuck off.”
Smiling up at him, I urged, “Feel free to do whatever it takes to keep her out of our hair.”
“Consider it done.” He paused to kiss the daylights out of me. “Now that we have that settled, I think it’s high time we celebrate your birthday.”
It had been so long since anyone had cared about my big day that I had forgotten what it felt like. “By taking care of Aunt Judy, you’ve already given me the best gift I’ve received in years.”
“Then brace yourself”—he gave me a squeeze before nudging me forward—“because I’m about to set a high standard for future birthdays.”
We entered the kitchen, and there was a breakfast feast fit for a queen spread out on the counter and a mountain of brightly wrapped presents piled on the table. “Wow, you weren’t kidding.”
“Don’t worry, baby.” He flashed me a cocky grin. “I’ll figure out a way to keep raising the bar in the years to come.”
Since I was convinced Kieran could accomplish the impossible, I had no doubt he was right.
8
Kieran
I wasn’t used to being up so early in the day, but Thana’s excitement and happiness were all I needed to chase away my tiredness. Watching her delight as she opened each present made it worth every penny I spent arranging for everything to be here in such a short amount of time. Not that it mattered. We would never have to worry about money. One thousand years was a very long time to build up wealth, and my brothers and I were all savvy with the stock market.
As though he knew I was thinking about my brothers, Athan’s voice popped into my head just as Thana was opening her last present. Except for the one burning a hole in my pocket.
Oh, good. You’re awake. The council called and they want one of us to escort a consort to her mate tonight. I have classes to teach—
You’ll have to ask Stephan, I growled back, interrupting him. Athan worked as a trainer for young daywalkers in our area. He taught them how to fight and defend against nightwalkers and any other threats they might face in their immortal existence, which meant he was only available for escort or patrol on certain nights. Stephan was between jobs—hobbies, really—so he could take the assignment, allowing me to stay with Thana.
He’s busy with—
I don’t give a fuck what he’s busy with. I’m needed at home.
You sound different. You’re being your usual grumpy ass, but...
Get Stephan to do it. And don’t bother me again for a couple of days. I shut my mind to further communication after my firm reply.
Thana popped up from the table and ran at me, jumping into my open arms. I wrapped her up tight and chuckled when she rained kisses all over my face. “You didn’t need to do all of this,” she breathed once she finished. Her blue eyes sparkled, and I knew I would do anything to put that look on her face over and over again. “I would have been ecstatic with just the beautiful breakfast.”
I gave her a mock frown as I set her cute little bottom on the nearest countertop, moving to stand between her legs. “You’ll have to give me a fashion show so we know that everything fits,” I told her with a devilish wink.
Thana laughed and raised a knowing eyebrow. “Especially the ones that are nothing but scraps of lace and silk?”
My wide grin was unrepentant. “Definitely those.”
I pulled one arm from around her waist to dig in the pocket of the loose pajama pants I was wearing and fish out her last present. Then I held the small, colorfully wrapped gift up in front of her. “Let’s start with seeing how you look wearing this.” With a wicked smile, I added, “In fact, I’d prefer to see you wearing nothing but this.”
One corner of Thana’s mouth ticked up, but she wasn’t really paying attention to what I was saying. Her big blue eyes were as round as saucers, and she was staring at the box with what looked like apprehension. Worry crept in as I wondered if I’d let myself get too far ahead and she wasn’t ready for what was in there.
Before I could retract my hand and make up an excuse, she took it from me with trembling hands. When she glanced up at me, I felt a rush of relief to see that her trepidation was from the way she was fighting to suppress hope. I smiled warmly to reassure her and nodded at the package. “Go ahead, baby.”
She carefully unwrapped it, as though she was afraid she was going to set off a booby trap. It didn’t take all that long, but it felt like for-fucking-ever. Finally, she revealed the black velvet box and slowly flipped open the top.
An engraved thin gold band sat snugly next to a matching but slightly thicker one, and a platinum engagement ring with white and yellow diamonds all down the sides and a three-carat, square diamond on top. There were tiny gold accents along with the yellow diamonds to give the illusion of a matching set. However, there were over a thousand years between them.
“This belonged to my mother,” I explained as I lifted the gold band. “Before it had even become popular to use gold for wedding rings, my father wanted something that would last forever.” I pointed at the tiny engravings before looking deeply into her eyes. “These represent Eros,
