Page 46 of Forged

Lauren laughed. “Don’t go blaming me. I’m agnostic at best. But I do love a chocolate egg.”

“Eggs are signs of fertility,” Callum said sagely. “So are hares. They both started out as Pagan symbols and traditions.”

“Oh, same with hot cross buns,” Lauren said, lighting up. “I remember reading about this. Everyone thinks hot cross buns are a symbol of Christianity because of the cross, but the cross is actually an ancient Celtic symbol for the division of Heaven and Earth and the human and the divine.”

Callum looked absolutely delighted by Lauren’s explanation. “We’ll make a witch of you yet,” he said.

Nick’s heart sank to his feet and beyond as the two of them laughed together. He hadn’t known any of that, not a bit. He barely knew there even was a Pagan holiday that matched Easter, though now that he thought of it, he was sure he’d heard all about how all of the Christian holidays were originally Pagan holidays. Before Bax had explained things back at Imbolc.

His shoulders suddenly felt heavy and his steps leaden as he finished with the rods in the fire, then headed to the side to get the handouts the class would need for the day’s project. Here he was dating a Pagan and he didn’t know the first thing about some of the most important events of his spiritual calendar.

“I’ve been pestering Bax for weeks about joining us, but you should come, too,” Callum was in the middle of saying, to Lauren, definitely not him, when Nick walked back that way with his stack of papers.

He paused for a second as his heart lurched. Callum had been pestering Bax for weeks about joining him for Ostara?

But of course he had. Bax had been open and honest about Callum wanting him to join his coven. Bax wasn’t lying or hiding anything from him. Maybe Callum had contacted him more than once or twice, but that was fine. He didn’t tell Bax about every phone call or invitation out that he got from his friends. Not that he had many outside of the Hawthorne family.

Those were all easy things to think, but they had a hard time truly sinking in.

“You should come, too, Nick,” Callum added, drawing Nick into the conversation as he walked past, putting the handouts on everyone’s workstations. As soon as the invitation was made, Callum slumped and said, “Then again, the way we celebrate Ostara isn’t exactly family-friendly.”

“Ooh!” Lauren said, brightening even more. “Tell me more.”

“It is a holiday celebrating fertility, after all,” Callum said with a cheeky wink.

Lauren laughed. Nick pretended to, but his mood was turning sour in a hurry.

“It’s not really as naughty as all that,” Callum went on, speaking mostly to Lauren as the rest of the class arrived. “My particular coven just includes, shall we say, fertility symbolism in our otherwise very tame rituals. But you should have seen us, me and Bax, back in the day when we still belonged to our original coven. Damien, Bax’s ex, too. There was one time when our coven leader decided we should really go all in with the fertility aspect of the whole thing. I think I had a sore bum for a week after. But Bax was absolutely spectacular.”

Lauren burst with laughter. Nick’s gut twisted.

“Alright, if you’re all ready to get class started,” Nick said, pretending he wasn’t painfully aware of the conversation as he raised his voice to bring it to a sharp end. “Today’s lesson is about making S-hooks, so if you all want to get your anvil set up, find a pair of tongs, a hammer, and a twisting spanner, we’ll get right to it.”

Lauren and Callum continued to laugh and chat about Ostara, complete with innuendo, as they headed off together to collect their tools. Nick rubbed his forehead in an attempt to dispel the headache that was forming behind his eyes and tried to swallow away the nausea that was creeping up on him. Maybe he’d caught germs from the babies. Or maybe he just couldn’t stomach being slapped in the face with the fact that he was the worst possible person Bax could be dating.

At least the lesson went well. Part of the reason for that was because Nick was so frustrated that he put all of his effort into making not one demonstration S-hook but four as his students looked on. They were damn good S-hooks, too, even if he didn’t have the slightest idea what he would use them for. At least he was good at something.

He managed to push his writhing emotions to the back of his mind, but they were definitely there as he walked around, helping his students with their task and stepping in to guide them where they needed it. Callum made a perfect S-hook on the first try, of course, but his second and third weren’t nearly as good.

Nick felt a wicked amount of satisfaction in that.

He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or an absolutely terrible one when Bax wandered down to the forge just as the class was finishing up and putting away tools.

“Now that’s a sight I like to see,” Bax greeted him with a heated look, sweeping Nick’s dirty, sweaty body with an appreciative look.

“Is it though?” Nick asked, knowing damn well he was being too impatient and standoffish with the one person, the one adult person, he cared about more than anyone else.

Bax flinched then frowned. “Something wrong?” he asked.

Before Nick could answer, Callum came bounding over.

“Bax! I’m so glad I caught you in person today,” he said. “I’ve just been having a grand time telling Lauren and Nick about Ostara and all the preparations we’ve been making to celebrate this year. You know I’d love to have you come and join the fun, even though it won’t be quite as much fun as it was back in the heyday.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Bax clearly knew exactly what Callum was talking about. He let out a breathy laugh, lowered his head slightly as a blush painted his face, then peeked at Nick. “Those days are long gone,” he said.

Nick stiffened. Had Bax said that because he missed those days? Because he regretted tying himself to a single father who had no idea what he was doing?

He shook his head slightly and used a bit of clean-up at the forge as an excuse to turn away.

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