Chapter 34
Kara
As soon as I walked back inside some time later, the smell of food hit me, all warm spices, grilled meat, and the fresh aroma of baked bread. Roman stood at the island, sleeves rolled up, a grin playing on his lips as he lifted the lid off one of the platters.
He’d ordered enough food to feed a small army.
“What… is all this?” I asked, blinking at the spread.
Roman looked up, mischief dancing in his eyes. “Brunch. Or lunch. Or a feast. I’m still not sure what time it is, but I figured you’d be hungry.”
“This is…” I glanced at the dishes. There was shakshuka, roasted lamb, flatbreads, pasta, sushi, even a plate of waffles. “A lot.”
He gave me a half shrug. “You didn’t exactly leave a note with your preferences.”
“Roman.” I laughed, shaking my head. “Did you order one of everything?”
“I like to be thorough,” he said easily, crossing his arms. “Besides, if I guessed wrong, I’m sure I’d never hear the end of it. You’re a hard woman to predict.”
Behind him, Lev appeared in the doorway, silent as ever, a small towel slung over his shoulder. He glanced at the mess of plates, then at Roman. “You know she’ll only eat like one hundredth of all this.”
Roman waved a hand. “Details, shmetails.”
Lev rolled his eyes and moved past him, coming to stand beside me. He reached out, gently tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered there, just long enough to make my heart trip.
“Sit,” he said quietly. “I don’t even know the last time you’ve eaten.”
He was already pulling a chair out for me before I had the chance to protest and I just sat down. I didn’t argue. It was pointless when his voice sounded like that.
Roman poured a glass of wine and set it in front of me with a little flourish of his hand. “To surviving,” he said, raising his own.
“Barely,” I muttered, clinking my glass against his.
“Barely still counts.”
Across the room, Dmitri sat near the window, a book in his hand.
He wasn’t reading it, just turning it over thoughtfully.
His sleeves were rolled up, his shirt open at the collar, and his focus was on me in that way it so often was.
Not obvious, not hungry, just… aware. He absorbed everything in silence.
“You’re quiet,” Roman said in his direction.
He looked up slowly. “You talk enough for all of us.”
Roman smirked. “See? He does listen.”
He studied me for a long moment, his gaze thoughtful rather than assessing. “Tell me something,” he spoke finally.
My brow arched. “That sounds ominous.”
Roman glanced up from the table, already grinning. “Oh, here we go. Dmitri’s about to psychoanalyze someone again. Should I grab a notebook?”
Dmitri ignored him completely, his gaze still fixed on me. “What’s your happiest memory?”
I blinked, caught off guard. “My happiest memory?”
“Yes,” he said. “I know who you are when you’re fighting, when you’re cornered. I’d like to know who you were before all of this. Before ARCHEON got a hold of you.”
Roman’s smirk faded, the teasing dying on his lips. Even Lev, who’d been leaning against the counter, glanced over, curious but silent.
I hesitated, my fingers brushing over the rim of my glass. “I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that.”
“Well, I’m asking now,” Dmitri said softly.
I looked down, watching the condensation trail down the glass.
“When I was a kid,” I said slowly, “there was this old amusement park outside London. It was falling apart, even back then. My mom would sneak me in after closing. The lights would still be on and the whole place would be empty. She’d put me on the carousel and spin it herself. ”
I smiled, the memory soft and far away. “It squeaked so loudly I thought it might fall apart. I used to laugh until my stomach hurt. I think that was the last time the world felt simple. Fun. Beautiful.”
Dmitri’s eyes didn’t waver. “What happened to her?”
The question was innocent, but it landed like a hammer to my chest. For a moment, I couldn’t answer. The room felt smaller, quieter. Even Roman and Lev stilled, waiting.
“She got sick,” I said finally, my voice low. “With cancer. It started small, or that’s what the doctors said. By the time anyone realized how bad it was, though, there wasn’t much left to do. I was sixteen.”
The memory rose unbidden—the hospital’s antiseptic sting, the sound of her shallow breathing, the way her hand had felt weightless in mine at the end.
Dmitri didn’t look away. “You were alone after that.”
It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway. “Yeah. I learned how to survive on my own.”
For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, to my surprise, his voice softened. “If we ever get out of this business with ARCHEON and Revenant alive, I’ll take you to an amusement park.”
I stared at him. “What?”
“You said it was your happiest memory. You deserve another one.”
The lump in my throat made it hard to speak, so I didn’t. I just watched him, the way his expression didn’t change, but his eyes were warmer now and my heart pulsed with emotion.
Roman cleared his throat dramatically. “Wow. That was almost sweet, brother. Careful, your reputation might not survive it.”
Lev let out a low chuckle. “Yeah, next thing you know, he’ll start smiling in public. Scandalous.”
Their banter made me smile. I wasn’t sure when it had started happening, when the tension between them had shifted from tense to playful, but around me, they seemed… lighter. As if the gravity they each carried alone had finally found a shared orbit.
Roman handed me a plate, carefully balanced with exactly what I liked—grilled lamb, roasted vegetables, flatbread torn into perfect pieces. “Try this,” he smiled. “Tell me I’m not a genius.”
I tasted it just to humor him, and my eyes widened. “That’s—okay, fine, that’s really good.”
He looked insufferably pleased with himself. “See? I told you. I’m a man of many talents.”
“Ordering food doesn’t count as a talent,” Lev countered.
He pressed a hand to his chest in mock offense. “It does when you do it this well.”
While Roman basked in his triumph, Lev moved behind me. I felt the gentle tug of my hair as he brushed his fingers through it, gathering it over one shoulder. The touch was so careful, so unexpectedly intimate, that my breath caught.
“Relax,” he murmured. “You’ve got a tangle.”
“I can manage.”
“I know,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “But let me.”
His hands worked slowly, steadily, undoing each knot like he was afraid of hurting me. His callused fingers grazed the back of my neck, and I swore the air shifted.
Roman watched, his grin fading into something softer. “He’s showing off,” he said quietly.
Lev didn’t look up. “Maybe.”
“It suits you, Kara. Letting us take care of you, even if for a moment,” Dmitri observed.
I turned my head toward him, our eyes meeting across the room. “And you? Do you ever let anyone take care of you?”
A faint smile curved his mouth. “Not until now.”
Roman cleared his throat, breaking the spell between us as he pouted. “I think I’m feeling left out.”
Lev glanced over his shoulder. “Then make yourself useful. Find me a brush or something.”
Roman leaned closer to me, his voice dropping to a playful murmur. “You see how he talks to me? No respect.”
I bit back a laugh. “I think he just likes annoying you.”
“It’s a full-time job,” Lev joked.
Roman grinned. “And yet you can’t seem to quit.”
They bickered, and I couldn’t stop smiling. This was what I hadn’t realized I needed. The way their edges softened when they looked at me, the way the room didn’t feel dangerous anymore, only full.
When Lev finished untangling my hair, he rested his hands on my shoulders. “There,” he announced. “Better.”
I tilted my head back, catching his gaze. “Thank you.”
His fingers squeezed lightly. “Of course, princess.”
Roman strode over to me and brushed his knuckles along my jaw. “You know what the problem is with you, Kara?”
“What?”
“You make us forget who we are.”
I smiled up at him. “Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
Behind me, Lev’s voice was low and warm. “It isn’t.”
Dmitri stood slowly, setting his book aside. He came to stand in front of me, his gaze warm and searching. “They’re right,” he said quietly. “You do make us forget who we are.”
Roman’s grin turned knowing, but there was softness beneath it. “She’s good at that. It’s kind of her thing.”
Lev snorted. “Her thing is surviving idiots like us.”
“Correction,” Roman said, “she thrives around idiots like us.”
Dmitri’s lips twitched, barely, but it was enough to make my heart stutter. “Maybe it’s because she’s smarter than we are.”
Lev’s hands were still resting on my shoulders, his thumbs tracing slow, absent circles against my skin.
Roman was close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating from him, the faint scent of smoke and spice clinging to his clothes.
And Dmitri just stood there, watching, his presence calm and consuming all at once.
“I’m not used to this,” I admitted.
Roman tilted his head. “To what? Being worshipped? Tortured?”
I laughed softly, shaking my head. “To being seen.”
That pulled something taut in the space between us. Roman’s usual smirk softened; Lev’s hand tightened on my shoulder. Dmitri’s expression didn’t change much, but his eyes did.
He reached out, his fingers brushing along my jaw in the lightest touch. “Then we’ll make sure you never forget how it feels.”
Lev leaned in, his voice low near my ear. “We see you, Kara. Every sharp edge, every soft bit you try to hide.”
Roman stepped closer on my other side, his voice a rough murmur. “And we’re not scared of any of it.”
The words hit deep. No one had ever spoken to me like that, not like I was fragile, not like I was dangerous, but like I was both and they wanted all of me anyway.
Dmitri’s hand slid from my jaw to the back of my neck, his thumb resting just beneath my hairline. “You don’t have to be strong all the time.”
“I don’t know how to be anything else,” I whispered.