Page 58 of Halfblood Deceived

“Oh, if twenty-something Sebastian could see you, he’d puke,” Kerian teased with a mischievous smile, his healing hands still on Mari’s back and chest.

Sebastian half shrugged. “Twenty-something Sebastian was an annoying little shit. So I don’t give a fuck.”

Kamilla smiled, sending a conspiratorial look at Kerian. “We raised him right, didn’t we?” She gently placed Gabby’s fully healed arm on her round belly.

Lex let out a long, relieved breath.

“That we did,” Kerian agreed as he covered Mari with a blanket.

Andreas—his worried gaze still on Mari—exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath for minutes.

Sebastian huffed, standing and looking for a blanket in one of the top compartments. “That’s still debatable.”

Aylana’s magic slowly receded.

Zeydan’s jaw slackened as he saw the once savage wound on Aella’s stomach turn into a chalk-white scar. Aylana’s magic had changed Aella’s bruises from the deepest green to a lighter shade mixed with yellow. She had also banished most of the remaining blood.

Andreas, Lex, and Evan also gaped.

Aylana blinked, returning her eyes to their normal hazel color. “Now I’m glad my shifting skills are still numb. I don’t think I could have done that with a low battery.”

“Shifting skills?” Zeydan asked.

Aylana nodded. “I’m half werewolf.”

“And 100% amazing,” Sebastian said, covering Aella with the white blanket up to her shoulders, and leaning to give Aylana a quick, but passionate kiss.

Aylana grinned and blushed, gently tucking Aella in.

Sebastian winked at his soulmate and headed to Evan’s side. “That doesn’t look pretty.”

Evan let out a shivery chuckle. “Nor does it feel pretty, trust me.”

Sebastian gently gripped Evan’s arm. “I believe you.”

Zeydan planted his backside on the floor, next to Aylana’s legs. He absentmindedly took Aella’s hand in his as he faced everyone else.

He met his cousins’ firm, fierce but kind topaz gazes. “Thank you.”

Kamilla shook her head, gulping. “We were almost too late.”

“You arrived just in time,” Zeydan argued. “And it’s my fault you didn’t come sooner, and my fault I didn’t get us all out of there before things got this bad. I thought we could handle the gargoyle invasion. I thought we could drive them out by ourselves, but I was wrong.” He met Lex, Andreas, and Evan’s gazes, throat tight with shame and heart heavy. “And you had to pay for it. Please forgive me.”

Evan opened his mouth to argue, but a hiss of pain stopped him.

“Sorry,” Sebastian murmured, casting a healing spell that lit up his hand with blue magic, which he placed on Evan’s ribs.

“You have no reason to apologize, Zeydan,” Lex argued, and gods, he was too lenient with Zeydan, had always been. “I believed we could handle it, too.”

“You are being ridiculous, Zeydan,” Andreas grumbled with a scowl.

Zeydan’s eyes slid to Luce, who looked paler than ever before. His chest ached. “No, I don’t think I am.”

Kerian sighed. “Alright, show of hands. Does he often take the blame for everything, including the weather?”

Andreas, Lex, and Evan lifted their hands.

Zeydan gulped. “I am guilty—”

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