Page 82 of Crimson Flames

“I don’t want to try to replace Aiden or anything, I just keep thinking this is going to be taken away from me, and I finally feel like I’m safe. Like I’m where I belong.”

Pulling back, I tilt his head up to look at me. His eyes remind me so much of Cillian that it nearly breaks me.

“Kai, I would love to adopt you.”

He lets out an unsteady sigh, his bottom lip trembling. “R-really?”

I nod, unable to form words as we embrace each other tightly. It lasts for a while, but I don’t want this moment to end. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but something about it feels cathartic.

When we break apart, I sit down on the bench next to Aiden’s memorial. “I’ll need to talk to Cillian and Boris, but I think you’ve belonged with us for a while now.”

He smiles and takes the seat next to me. “I think I knew the moment I met you.”

Worry niggles at my mind as this starts to become a reality. “Kai,” I say, watching the flame flicker back and forth. “Are you sure this is what you want? We aren’t good people, and the life we live is dangerous.”

He’s silent for a minute, staring ahead with me at the very example of the danger we face.

“You want to know something kinda funny?” he asks quietly. I turn to him with a nod.

“Sure.”

“For as long as I can remember, I haven’t felt safe. Not with a person, not in any place. I have never felt love or knew what it was like to be mentored by a parent. I never had someone I could go to for advice or talk about my feelings with. No one ever bought me candy or hugged me when I was sad or scared.”

His hand reaches for mine and I squeeze it.

“But with the people who say they aren’tgood guys,that’s where I have found all of the good things a foster kid like me could only hope for. You and this family have given me a safe home, unconditional love, guidance in my decisions, and people I can go to when I need to talk it out. You’re who I seek when I feel scared or alone.”

It hits me then how much I worried about Aiden accepting us as she grew up, a family that is complicit in evil. I never thought I could have a child that would feel safe with me or in this world, yet Kai is erasing those doubts within me.

He isn’t replacing Aiden, but by him choosing to be a part of this family, he is showing me how much those doubts were hurting me and just how significant his presence is in this family.

He’s showing me just how unfounded my fears really were—that it’s what’s in my heart that truly matters.

As Aiden’s little light shines bright, my heart swells. It’s almost like she knows she has just gained a brother.

Chapter 30

Nessa comes back in from the cold, her nose pink and red hair wild. It’s refreshing to see her without sadness haunting her eyes. She seems to be healing, and I believe part of that is thanks to the kid who has become her shadow.

Everyone cleared out after breakfast. Boris and I are left loading up the last of the dishes when Nessa pulls up a chair to the kitchen island. Kai heads to his room, and once we hear the door shut, I have a feeling I know where this is about to go.

“He asked if we would adopt him.”

Yup. Damn, that kid has balls. He’s definitely one of us.

“What did you tell him?” I ask as Boris hands me a wet plate. I begin drying it, waiting for her reaction. Nessa’s lips lift in a gentle smile, her shoulders relax, and when her eyes connect with mine, I know.

“I told him I would love to adopt him, but that I need to talk to the two of you first.”

Boris pauses, midway to handing me another plate. “Are you sure,Lisichka?”

Nessa glances to the side, then to him. “I’m not trying to replace what we lost, that would be impossible. But Kai deserves a family. He deserves people who will fight for him, just like he fought for me.”

She pauses, a heavy sigh slipping past her lips.

“He tried to take a bullet for me.”

Silence stretches while we all let that truth sink in. The now fourteen-year-old kid was willing to die for her. If that doesn’t scream devotion, I don’t know what does.

---