“So, she’s okay?” Nash needed us to say yes. I could see that in the anxious twists of green ringing the edges of his irises. He wouldn’t sleep if we said no. In fact, he’d probably stay up all night plotting her rescue from scratch, not that I could blame him. But we owed him the truth.

“Maybe,” I finally said. “She’s more okay than she’d be if Avari had her, anyway.”

“Well, I guess that’s probably true.” My mattress creaked when he stood. “I’m going to look for her again. Will you guys come with me?”

Tod hesitated, but I nodded, trying to hide the dangerous idea and the grim certainty growing clearer in my mind with every passing second. “Yeah. Of course. But we should give it a little while. Avari’s going to be on alert for at least the next few hours, in case I actually lose my mind and decide to turn myself in.”

“That’s fine. I’m going out with Sabine anyway,” Nash said, his hand on the doorknob. Tod shot him a questioning look, which I suspect my expression echoed. “Not out, out. Just out to eat. She feeds at night, remember? And I don’t want her going alone after what happened last night.”

Sabine wasn’t going to feed in the Netherworld, which meant she should be safe on her own, but I saw no reason to point that out. Nash feeling protective of his recently poisoned girlfriend was good news for them both.

I was happy for them.

“Don’t forget your key,” Tod said.

“And this.” I held out his phone, and Nash took it, then shoved it in his back pocket. “Be careful.”

“We will.”

“Hey, baby brother, stay out of trouble,” Tod said before Nash could pull open the door.

Nash lifted both brows and grinned. “I’m a year and a half older than you now. I think that makes you the baby brother.”

“I may be physically younger, but—much like a sweet, golden apricot—I was plucked from life at the peak of perfection.” Tod’s smile grew and mischief swirled in his irises. “Someday decades from now, when you and Sabine are hobbling around in your old-people pants and orthopedic shoes, yelling at grandchildren and reminiscing about the days when you could still see your feet, unimpeded by the view of your gut, I will still be basking in the glow of eternal youth, forever young, forever golden, forever—”

“In love with the face in the mirror and the sound of your own voice,” I finished for him, and Nash laughed.

“I can’t take credit for my genetic blessings, but I can’t deny them, either.” Tod pulled me onto his lap again and his hand settled on my hip, and for a moment my whole world went still beneath the unexpected weight of his intense focus. “But the face and voice I most love to see and hear both belong to you. And they always will,Kaylee.”

My heart beat so hard my entire body trembled. I kissed him, and my fingers slid into his hair, and Tod’s hands splayed across my back, touching as much of me as possible.

Nash cleared his throat. “I’m going to refrain from acknowledging the awkwardness of this moment, as I quietly retreat....” His shoes whispered against the carpet.

I pulled away from Tod reluctantly and turned to his brother. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make things—”

“Don’t be.” Nash’s smile was small and more than a little melancholy, but he met my gaze and held it a second. Then he gave Tod a small, firm nod, like he’d come to some private decision. “Don’t be sorry. Either of you. This is the way it’s supposed to be. I’ve understood that for a few weeks, but I didn’t tell you because...well, because I was really mad at you both. But this is...right.” He made a gesture encompassing us both. “This is good. I hope you both get to stay golden for a long, long time.”

Tod was silent for a moment, and I felt his heart go as still as his eyes, which usually meant he was feeling something he didn’t know how to express. Then, finally, he grinned. “And I hope you get all those grandkids and that old-man gut.”

Nash laughed, and I frowned at Tod.

“What?” He gave me a wide-eyed, innocent look. “I just basically wished him a lifetime of good food and sex. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

I glanced from one brother to the other, confused. “Food and sex? How do you figure?”

Nash crossed his arms over his chest, still chuckling. “Where do you think the kids and the gut come from?”

On the bright side, the fraternal communication gap had obviously been bridged.

But on that other side...it turned out that nonsense was the official language of testosterone, and I was not a native speaker.

“But we’re talking extreme future tense, here. Like, hover cars and space colonies.” Nash lifted his shirt, showing off one of few physical traits he and his brother actually had in common. “These abs are gonna be around for a long, long time.” He disappeared into the hall, still chuckling, and Tod looked at me in astonishment.

“Did that really just happen?”

“I think it did.” I exhaled, long and slow, more relieved than I could ever have explained by this breakthrough in their relationship. In the landscape of betrayal and resentment they’d been mired in for months, that relaxed banter was like climbing the Mount Everest of emotions. Together.

When Nash and Sabine had left so she could hunt, Sophie, Luca, and Emma curled up on the couch to try to distract themselves with another movie. Though I could tell during the opening credits just how futile an effort that would be.