“I did want to try.” Lucas finally put the empty cup down. “But every time we were alone, someone in your family would pop up, so I figured maybe they didn’t approve. Or possibly that you’d asked them to do it. It was more than a little confusing, considering that…”
“That I followed you around the entire summer and could obviously barely restrain myself from touching you?” Robin finished for him, then twitched before bursting into laughter. He slapped a hand to Lucas’ knee so Lucas wouldn’t try to get up, but he couldn’t stop. He hid his face against Lucas’ shoulder and inhaled raggedly even while still laughing. Imagining Lucas’ confused expression set him off again, but at least Lucas didn’t leave.
He gave Robin’s shoulder a single, awkward pat and Robin nearly choked.
He raised his head so Lucas wouldn’t worry and wiped at his eyes although new tears replaced the old.
“Sorry,” he managed. “It’s just… that’s what they were like. Always calling out for me or interrupting me in the middle of something—and, Lucas, let me tell you, at thirteen, it was truly the worst thing they could’ve done to me. Or so I thought at the time.” He caught some of his breath, sobering a little. “Allthe time. There they were. ‘Blessing, where are you? I can’t get this open! Blessing, have you seen my keys?’ And then they, or your mother, or all of them conspire to try to pair us up only to get in their own way? It wouldn’t have occurred to them that their scheming couldn’t work if they kept interrupting us. I just… sorry. But it’s funny. I’d kill them if they weren’t dead.”
He frowned, then dropped back down against Lucas’ shoulder. “I don’t mean that. But you know I don’t.” Robin peeked upward to make sure, but Lucas was watching him, baffled and understanding at the same time. Robin smiled. “That’s the nice thing about you being so wise. I don’t know why it bothers people. It’s lovely. Irritating, sometimes, because you insist upon being right, always, but also lovely.”
“Am I so wise?” Lucas wondered faintly, not even commenting on Robin’s hands creeping onto his sweater.
“You could put your arms around me, if you’re taking suggestions.” Robin offered him a smile that slowly slipped away when Lucas did as requested, after first pausing to wipe the last of the tears from Robin’s cheek.
Feeling himself getting hotter than even the fire and the wine could explain, Robin hid his face again. “I’m glad you’re here now, though I don’t think you should have left your family celebration for me.”
“Was it for you?” Lucas asked, tone suspiciously dry.
Robin laughed again, small and quiet. “You get flirty when you drink. Good to know. But I really was okay. If you worried, you didn’t need to. And I bet your family wanted you there,” he went on when Lucas inhaled, before Lucas could politely argue. “All of them bringing their loved ones and their work to present to you.” The elder Sibleys wish they had that sort of respect. “They all wanted to talk to you, didn’t they?”
Robin shivered when Lucas swept his hair aside to bare the back of his neck to the heat of the fire, which cooled Robin enough for him to realize how hot he really was.
He peeled away from Lucas to remove a layer. Once it was tossed aside, he scooted back in and closed his eyes.
“Um,” Lucas said first, voice huskier than it had been. But he returned his attentions to Robin’s hair and nape and the slope of his shoulders. Robin returned to his shivering and clinging to Lucas’ sweater. “Persephone was in a mood for a while. Melba Brunswick cornered her at the salon and said something to piss her off. Persephone wouldn’t say what it was, which usually means it was about me or Connor.”
Robin scowled.
Lucas continued. “But if anyone else had a question, they forgot them when they saw how distracted I was.”
Robin twitched and looked up.
“And they can contact me whenever they want anyway. Most questions can wait. I wanted to be here,” Lucas informed him seriously.
“But Persephone,” Robin reminded him, weakly, he had to admit, but he did say it. He was getting in his own way now. That must also be a Blessing-Redferne trait.
“Yes,” Lucas agreed, trying to drape a blanket over Robin’s shoulders as if Robin hadn’t just gotten rid of a layer. “She can wait too, at least for tonight.”
“The coven leaders really are terrible.” Robin watched Lucas closely while he submitted to the blanket draping. “I told her to make her own coven, which is a family joke. I should’ve have explained it to her so she wouldn’t think I was promoting rebellion. Neither the Blessings nor the Redfernes nor thehonorary ones who accompanied the other shades across the ocean are the ‘promote rebellion’ types. Although look where that got them,” Robin concluded with a frown, then shook that thought away. “Two covens in a town this size? I don’t think that would work. And what about Oak and Hol—oh, they would do as they saw fit. But who even knows what that is?”
“You do, Robin Blessing.” Lucas said it even as he continued to gently arrange a blanket around Robin’s shoulders. “Or you could.”
Robin took a breath. “Those arematcheson the mantel, Lucas. Matches which I used to start this fire. Not all of us shine with the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars.”
Thatraised the eyebrow and a half, but Lucas was otherwise unfazed. “I don’t think you see what I see.”
“Hmph.” Robin had opinions about that. “Want to know what I See? I’m out of wine, but this is a goodly fire and it will do with you here.” Robin turned toward it anyway, stiffly putting his back to Lucas. “Ask me something, then."
Lucas didn’t speak for long moments. The two ravens were the hushed sweep of ruffling feathers. The spirits, if they stirred elsewhere in the house, made not a peep.
Lucas was motionless behind Robin. “Will Persephone have a calling?”
It was not what Robin had expected.
Robin bit down, but he had done this to himself, so he focused on the flames, staring into them and beyond them, letting the lights lull him into turning toward what was always ready for him to See. He shuddered slightly as shapes took form, then Lucas put his hand to the center of Robin’s back, steady and warm.
The grate in front of the fire was crosshatched, easily threaded. A pattern formed quickly, smiles and busy hands and…
