Page 45 of Midwinter Night's Prince

REMINISCENCE

Blair was fairly certain Seth Stormhale had never been accused of being adorable before, but right now, with a purring kitten on his shoulder, that was exactly what he was.

Did he realize it? Probably not, otherwise he would have chucked Velvet off him in seconds.

Chloe looked from Seth to her and gaped wordlessly, eyes full of questions. Blair shrugged helplessly. Yes, he’d changed, visibly so. He was more considerate, caring, and approachable. Except she had no idea how, why, or when any of that had happened. Maybe it had been progressive and she’d been blind to it. Who knew? She’d barely seen him in the last months.

“I have to run and get started on crafting that spell.” Greer moved to hug Blair tight. “You and I have so much catching up to do, girlfriend,” she whispered into her hair, her tone suggestive.

She snorted. Everyone in this room could hear them—except maybe Gwen, but Blair was fairly certain Jack would enlighten her.

Blair winced. “Not really. I haven’t done much.”

“I’ll help!” Gwen offered, getting up from the loveseat she’d occupied with Jack.

“I can help, too,” Blair said.

“No, you had a hole the size of my dildo inside you. You rest. Then we catch up. You can do the supply run once we figure out what we need.” With another kiss, the two witches left.

“How did you heal from that wound so fast, by the way?” Alexius, ever the scholar, asked.

Blair returned to the sofa she shared with Chloe and Levi, taking Ruby—her goddaughter—back on her lap.

Hergoddaughter. Crazy. And to think she’d missed months because of the mess they were in.

Somewhere along the line, she’d stopped blaming Seth, redirecting all her rage where it belonged: toward Aveka. Sure, his decision to use her might have derailed her life for a bit, but it had saved her friends. Little Ruby.

There was something humbling to being chosen by someone like Seth. He seemed to be his own island, a universe unto himself. And he’d trusted her with the most precious thing he had. Himself. He’d never doubted she’d take care of it, though they’d been virtual strangers then.

Faith.

Seth had had faith in her.

“That’s one long fucking story.”

So she told them, cleverly curating the story to leave Seth’s identity out of it. She watched him lift a brow at her—he’d noticed the omissions of the dagger and his paternity. According to this version, she’d ended up on Mount Olympus simply because it had sounded like a good idea at the time. The present company was made out of her closest friends, sure, but that didn’t mean that she could divulge Seth’s business to them without his consent.

Alexius drank her tale, making her repeat each of Aphrodite’s words several times.

“I could be wrong, but I suspect you’ve experienced something similar to Chloe, when Jack’s father transferred nanocytes to her. It helped her heal faster, strengthened her hold on the supernatural world, and facilitated her transformation.” Alexius paused. “Of course, Enik is at the bottom of the food chain, and, well, Aphrodite is…Aphrodite.”

“One of the Olympians.” Chloe gawked.

“No wonder you healed that fast. It might have changed you significantly, beyond the healing rate. I’d like to take a sample of your blood, if you don’t mind,” the healer told her.

“Of course.” That brought something else to mind. “Actually, I’d be grateful if you could check out Velvet, too. My kitten,” she clarified. “You remember, he was messed up when Gwen and I found him last winter. And, well, he’s still…”

“I see.” Alexius tilted his head. “I’ll do your blood first, as Velvet here seems healthy enough, but I’ll check him out to the best of my abilities. Maybe you should take him to an actual vet, though.”

“I don’t know any vet with a hundred PhDs in all forms of medicine.”

Alexius puffed his chest out. Flattery always worked with him. "I'll see what I can do."

Her friends had other questions about her journey—Diana had visited most of the places Blair had been to, though they traveled in spectacularly different fashions. Diana had rolled in tons of money since the day she was born. So had Blair, to a considerably smaller degree, but she’d never had to run without leaving any trace.

Blair didn’t linger on her use of magic, and either out of courtesy or simply because they didn’t think to, none of her friends asked.

"How about you?” Cat asked her brother. “How was your time with Aveka?”

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