Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Kaine put his hand on Dalmon's arm, stopping him from walking out and interrupting the picnic. "Leave him. Both of them. It's the first time I've heard Everest laugh since he's been back."

"You haven't broken the binding." It was an accusation. Kaine had been expecting it from Dalmon.

"He's not ready. He may never be ready. You weren't there for the immediate aftermath. You didn't experience the damage done to his mind by the memories, and I only saw it, felt it, secondhand through the bond. That Quentin is willing to go back in…" Kaine shook his head. Quentin was braver than him, but then Quentin and Everest had reached an understanding and were becoming friends. He was sure that dead languages and their interest in the past played a part.

"It's just…" Dalmon grimaced, his gaze on Everest and Cadel lying on the picnic blanket, kissing and talking.

"Doesn't sit right?" Kaine finished for him. He'd never wanted a fated mate, but now he had one he couldn't imagine living without Quentin. He didn't understand how Dalmon was fine with no longer having that connection to the man who was his mate. "How's the announcement of your engagement going?"

"Covering my involvement in this mess. Lucian is managing with the fuss, though I think he's glad to be here and out of sight for a bit." Dalmon glanced at him and smiled. "I hear your mother-in-law is coming to visit next month."

"She is." Kaine nodded, not that she was his mother-in-law yet. They weren't married, and they couldn't tell her they were fated mates. "Quentin is excited to see her."

"You like being mated?"

"More than I thought I would." It wasn't restrictive…it was expansive in a way he couldn't have imagined.

Dalmon considered him for a moment, then tilted his head toward Everest and Cadel. "Another bloody bodyguard."

"Perhaps he was searching for someone who'd look after him when needed." Cadel seemed to think Everest's subconscious had been working overtime to ensure survival, and, having debriefed him, Kaine was inclined to agree. "You said it was time to let him sit with the mess instead of removing?—"

"I didn't mean like that. We have spent all this time fighting against bindings?—"

"It wasn't done for power. It was done for love and protection. The intent is different." If Cadel and the binding were what Everest needed to heal, Kaine wasn't about to step in. He knew when to step back and observe.

Dalmon was silent for several seconds. "He's different. Do you think he's capable of love?"

"I hope so. He's more like the man he was becoming before he started shifting, only more cautious because he's been burned by his own fire."

"He pulled off a job right under our noses," Dalmon said bitterly. "We should have noticed."

"How? He spent two lives setting up the mission, setting us up so we were able to action it in this one. If we'd stopped him, the soul bruise would've destroyed him."

"He didn't tell us because he knew we'd stop him." Dalmon pressed his lips together.

Everest must have weighed the options and decided that it was easier to heal the wounds with them after the fact. "He needs to live with that decision, and we need to forgive him or risk carrying the wound."

Dalmon drew in a breath and turned away. "You're proud of him."

"Yeah…and annoyed and betrayed and everything else. You must admit it was clever. He gave the Shadow Board so much rope last life, trusting that you'd tightened the knots in this one. He trusted us to do our jobs. That's why he took the chances that he did." Kaine glanced out the window, glad that Cadel had been there to catch Everest when he'd gone too far.

"You're halfway to forgiving him."

"I have forgiven him. My own feelings about the situation are for me to deal with. I want him to heal and find some happiness. For the moment, that means being bound to the lion shifter."

Cadel was the only reason Everest was alive. They all owed him.

Kaine was putting together the documents that would ensure Cadel was financially taken care of, something he'd have done even if Everest hadn't made the request.

"Gerrit's not ready to forgive him," Dalmon said.

"They were harsh words in wrote in the books, but if that is the wisdom of a thousand lives, then I'm not questioning what he wrote. Gerrit still loves him as a son, and I think he needs to let that go. That boy died the moment he took on the memories, and we all suspected something was up but assumed it was shifting and being sixteen." In hindsight, they should've looked harder, but Everest had kept so much hidden.

"We can't use the honor system with the library anymore."

Kaine drew in a breath. "Maybe we need a new system."

"Like what?"

"No idea. We need to plan how paranormals come out, and it's going to take more than this life. We need some way to hold a plan over several lives and add to it as needed."

Dalmon rolled his eyes. "Long-term planning is not my area."

"You're much better at snap decisions. And we need them, too." Kaine turned away. They'd catch up with Everest later. "Come on. You'd best meet Oliver."