Page 104 of The Hunt of Night

I don’t know why, but I can’t bring myself to look at my father as I speak of my mother. Things are different now, but once upon a time, he loved her. Before all the lies, deceit, and pain, there was love.

“Is this a reunion without me?” I startle at the new voice, but I take a quick glance over my shoulder to find Professor Tora striding toward us.

His arrival disburses the awkward pain that lingers along my skin, and I’m thankful for it.

“Beau,” Kryll murmurs as Meredith stands.

“If it isn’t my terrible son,” she says with joy, and he scoffs.

“Don’t wound me,” he says with a pout, placing a hand against his chest before hugging his mother tight. She presses a kiss to his cheek before he steps back, running a hand through Kryll’s hair, tousling the ends in an attempt to irritate him. “What’s up, shithead?”

“Fuck off, Beau,” Kryll grumbles with a grin as a server brings a chair from nowhere and places it between Meredith at the end of the table and Kryll beside me.

Beau ignores him, glancing around his brother to settle his eyes on me. I can sense the grin before it comes. “Did he tell you about the prince thing before or after?—”

“Stop, Beau,” Kryll blurts, planting a hand over his brother’s mouth as Nora laughs.

Beau waggles his brows, a complete contrast to the man we see at the academy. The moment Kryll releases his hold, Beau continues to push, despite my father and his mother being present. “Well?”

“After,” I grumble when I realize he’s not going to stop, and he scoffs.

“Smart, man. Real smart.” Beau shakes his head, the teasing easing as he meets my father’s stare. “It’s good to see you, August. And Nora, causing any more trouble?”

“Trouble?” I parrot, sitting forward in my seat as my eyes narrow on my sister.

“Ignore him. He thinks he knows everything, but he forgets that he’s an uptight asshole who believes breathing out of sync with him is chaos enough,” she retorts, making Meredith’s head snap back with a laugh as my father chokes on his breath.

“Nora,” my father warns, but she shrugs.

Beau rolls his eyes at my sister, the irritation clear as he rounds his stare back to Kryll. “I’d like to say this is a visit sent with love, but alas, it’s not.”

“How so?” Kryll asks, his thumb trailing patterns on my thigh as my spine stiffens and I sit taller in my seat.

“I’m here for you, and you,” Beau states, pointing between Kryll and me as the humor dissolves and the guy I’m familiar with from the academy sits in the same seat.

“Why?” I dare ask, already bracing for the answer.

“Word got around that a new ethereal princess has been declared.”

“It did not,” Kryll grunts, his nostrils flaring as he glances at his mother, but she lifts her hands in surrender.

“Did too,” Beau retorts like they’re both little kids, but I settle on the realization.

“Bozzelli sent you.”

“Ding ding ding,” he sings, all traces of humor completely gone now.

“I’m guessing her joy is at zero?” I confirm before tugging the hoodie from my lap over my head.

“Less, if that’s even possible,” he answers, and I sigh.

Turning to Kryll with my eyebrows bunched in confusion, his eyes find mine. “I thought you said it was a secret?” I murmur, and his grip on my thigh tightens as a soft smile touches his lips.

“The fact that I’m a dragon and my mother is who she is isn’t the secret, Princess,” he explains, and I nod in understanding.

“No, just the fact that he’s rare as fuck. Lucky bastard,” Beau states with a slight smirk before he stands, losing the teasing as he does.

“Beau,” Kryll bites with a warning that feels as though it’s been muttered a hundred times before.

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