“Look, I’m not gonna try and be your stepmom since I’m eighteen and you’re as old as Sweyn, but I’d like a chance to start over.” I ran my hands through Houdini’s fur. “Everest is my soulmate and your father. That means if we’re lucky enough to survive this war, then we’ve got a long future together, and it’s important to me that we get along—-No, that’s a lie. Get along is too cordial. I want to be friends, Saber. I want us to be close.”

Her eyes shimmered with emotion. “I want us to be close too.”

“Then we are starting over from here with the truth on the table.” I nodded and held my arm out for Bobokins as he attempted to climb into my lap as well. “And I promise your secret is safe with me . . . I won’t even tell Mei-Ling, and that says a lot.”

“I appreciate that.” She chuckled, then wrapped her arms back around her knees. “We don’t know how long this will have to remain a secret or if we can let our truths be known once Sweyn and the Unseelies are gone⁠—”

“Well, you two will let me know.”

“Thank you,” she said softly, peeking up at me through dark eyelashes.

“You’re welcome. We’re family now, right? That’s what families do.”

Her face flushed. She smiled and looked away as she nodded. “Family,” she whispered so softly I wasn’t sure I heard her right.

That aura of hers was still pulsing. If anything, it had gotten worse. I leaned forward to try and catch her gaze. “What’s wrong?”

She scoffed, then pushed her black hair off her face. “What isn’t?”

I started to ask what she meant when a thought occurred to me. In all my dealings with Saber, which admittedly weren’t a lot, I’d never seen her be friendly with anyone. Like legit friendly. Sure, she’d made friends with Braison and Malik—-I’d seen that much clearly but they were new to the vampire world, new to her, so they didn’t count. Shi-Shi seemed slightly awkward around them, like she wasn’t quite sure how to act, so I didn’t suspect she hung around them much.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” She rubbed her arms with her hands. “Friends think out loud, don’t they?”

That made me smile. “Mei-Ling and I say that all the time to each other.”

She arched one eyebrow. “So?”

I sighed and ran my hands over my dogs’ fur. “I don’t know how to ask this without possibly sounding mean⁠—”

“I prefer bluntness anyway.”

“Okay.” I bit my lip and watched her face. “Who do you lean on, Saber? Like for emotional support?”

“My father,” she said without hesitation. “Goddess, that felt good to say out loud finally.”