give you a Constantine birthday.”
I look up at Leo and find him watching me, and I know he’s been watching me since we arrived at this room. I can feel him waiting for my reaction. I can feel his hope, and underneath that, his worry that this isn’t enough.
“I wanted—” He clears his throat. “I would have made it a bigger party, but I couldn’t find a safe way. That was the most important thing. I trust the people here.”
“You invited your family.”
“I know. It’s not what you wanted, but—”
I reach up and cover his mouth with my hand. Tears gather at the corners of my eyes but I breathe through them. “You offered me your own family and I—” He takes my hand away and kisses my palm. “You’re a prince. And I want all of you. They’re a part of you. Even when it’s hard.” My chin starts to tremble but I stop it through sheer force of will. “I don’t need a bigger party. They count for thirty people. Maybe a hundred.”
He runs the pad of his thumb over my cheek. “Cry for me later, darling. Not now.”
I hold my breath for a count of three. “I’m not crying now. This is perfect.”
“Lucian, shut up, she’s here,” Daphne says, and I was right. There are only a handful of them, but they sound like a full ballroom when they shout happy birthday. Daphne comes to pull me into the room, and it doesn’t matter that it’s a small party. I’m surrounded by joy. Everyone gathers around to see my reaction to the cake. Eva puts champagne in my hand. “I was promised dinner,” Elaine says after she kisses my cheek. There’s a table set up at the other side of the room, and I already know it won’t be like the first dinner we had together. There’s no awkwardness now.
Because.
They were raised to attend parties. To be a credit to their family. But this isn’t a show. This is real.
“Presents first or dinner first?” asks Eva. The music is just loud enough for atmosphere, not so loud it drowns her out.
“Dinner,” I answer quickly, before anyone else can. They’re already doing so much for me. I don’t think I can stand here and open gifts without actually starting to cry.
“Then let me get the last guest.” Leo presses a kiss to my hair, and then he goes for the door.
Daphne takes my arm. “Do you like it? There are a lot of balloons, and that’s partially my fault.”
“I love it. It’s—” Of course I loved my birthdays with my family, with the box cake Petra would make and the gift Cash would bring me from the corner store. Of course I did. And I won’t say a word against them. “I’ve never had a party like this before.”
She grins, and then she looks past me. At that moment Leo arrives behind me and puts his hand on the small of my back. I turn toward his touch, and over his arm, I see who he went to retrieve.
Cash stands a few steps inside the door of the dining room in a suit like Lucian and Leo are wearing, his lips pressed together, hands in his pockets.
I step out of Leo’s arm and rush across the room to him, fast as I can go in my heels. Cash tenses as I get close. “Haley—”
“Hi.” I throw my arms around him, careful not to squeeze. It hasn’t been long enough for his ribs to heal. My heart fills. Bursts. I missed him. Cash hesitates another moment, and then he puts his arms around me and pulls me close. “You were almost late for dinner.”
“Yeah, there was a surprise dress code,” he teases. “They made me change into it before I came inside.” He takes a deep breath. “Are you pissed?”
“I’m hungry,” I tell him, stepping back to look at Cash. He looks good. Tired, but okay.
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant. We don’t have to talk about all that at the party.” I squeeze his hand. “I know you wouldn’t have done it if you had a choice. Will you sit next to me at dinner?”
Cash does sit next to me at dinner, with Leo on my other side, and Eva works a kind of magic over the table so there’s no lull in the conversation. Not a single awkward moment, though Cash stays quiet. They can’t quite draw him into the conversation, and he can’t quite open up