The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,46

them, but … My gaze swept back to Kat. “Did you do the garden next door?”

Her eyes lit up. “I can’t take credit for starting it. The previous owners did. I just take care of it. Well, as long as I’ve been able to. Hopefully, I’ll still have time to pop over and keep it maintained, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh my God, please feel free whenever you can. I have the opposite of a green thumb. I have a black thumb of death, actually. The garden will need your help.”

“Maybe I can teach you a few tricks to turn your black thumb of death to a muddy-green color.” Kat gave me a tired smile. “Come.” She gestured at the space in front of Dee. “Sit. We figured since Luc was with the guys, we could have some one-on-one time.”

Nervous and wanting to, well, wanting so badly to make a good impression, I got my butt where she wanted me. I sat at the foot of the bed, in front of Dee. “I didn’t know Archer was with them.”

“I don’t think they knew that until Archer invited himself along,” Dee replied dryly.

Kat laughed at that. “But to be honest, I totally had an ulterior motive for inviting you over. I have a ton of questions for you.”

Suspecting what her questions had to do with, I decided not to beat around the bush. “Daemon told you what I did to him in the woods.”

“He did.” Heather-gray eyes met mine. Eyes I knew had seen things weaker people wouldn’t have survived. “And I’m relieved that he’s okay. If not, I’d have to do my best to take you out, pregnant or not.”

Getting the warning loud and clear, I pushed past the embarrassment driven by the uncomfortable truth of what I’d done and nodded. “Understandable.” My cheeks warmed. “I really am sorry about what I did. I don’t expect either you or Daemon to accept that. I just hope you all know that I am genuinely sorry.”

“But I do accept your apology,” Kat said, surprising me. “From what I understand, you had no control over what happened, and Daemon knows that, too.”

Daemon may know that, but I doubted he was as forgiving as Kat. “Part of me wishes you didn’t accept my apology. I know that sounds weird, but…” I trailed off, uncertain of how to explain it.

“But you feel like you should be punished. I get it. Trust me. We’ve all done things that ended badly for others, whether it was unintentional or not.” Kat glanced at Dee, who nodded. “My actions led to the death of one of Dee’s good friends. It wasn’t something I did on purpose. In fact, I thought I was doing the right thing. Dee has forgiven me, but there are still days when it feels like she shouldn’t have.”

“But I did.” Dee leaned into Kat’s shoulder. “Eventually,” she added. “And look, Daemon needs knocking down a peg or five hundred every so often.”

I blinked slowly.

Kat laughed softly. “That is true. Usually, it’s Luc who reserves that special place.”

“They seem to threaten each another a lot,” I acknowledged.

“That’s their version of male bonding.” Dee rolled her eyes. “Throw Archer in the mix, and it’s like who can out-threaten one another.”

“What about Dawson?”

“Dawson is the only normal one out of all of them,” Dee said, and Kat nodded. “So, if he threatens someone, it means some bad stuff is about to go down.”

“Noted,” I murmured, thinking that Dawson and Daemon may appear identical, but their personalities couldn’t be any more different.

“I’m pretty sure this kid has a foot planted in a vital organ.” Kat planted her hands in the mattress and shifted slightly. Once settled, she breathed deeply. “I don’t know if Luc told you this or not, but when I was first mutated, I had no idea what was happening. I was a mess. If I thought about wanting a glass of tea, the jug would open up in the fridge and spill all over the place.”

“No way.”

Resting her hands on her belly, she nodded. “Doors would open before I touched them. Clothing fell off hangers. There were a couple of minutes where I thought maybe my house was possessed.”

Dee laughed.

“It takes a lot for a Luxen to mutate a human, and it’s not something that happens often, so it wasn’t even a thing I considered at first, but when I finally did tell Daemon, he knew what was going on.” She paused. “I think he was as