The Rouje Kith by A.C. Delauncey

Author:A.C. Delauncey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A.C. Delauncey

40

READING MINDS

The entire house throbbed with light, heat, good smells, soft conversation, and laughter. The first toast was just her father lifting a tumbler with two fingers of spiced rum and saying This season we have much to be grateful for, my beloved daughter has returned to us, and everyone chiming in with Hear, hear or Amen or Jack’s soft At long last before taking a swig. Then Lev bent to his work behind a bank of sound equipment, a girl with soft brown hair gently pushing his hand away from a certain dial. Other toasts were called out, and the snacking began as carols and holiday music began to play at just the right volume. Groups of Kith—bright eyes, glossy hair, skin in every shade glowing with vitality—formed, broke, and reformed with soft regularity. Zoe was greeted over and over, and the welcome seemed genuine.

Best of all, she didn’t have to shake anyone’s hand or be hugged. Jack’s presence seemed to make it completely unnecessary, and with him hovering right next to her apparently nobody would dare to ask where she’d been or why it took seventeen years to show up.

Janine beamed, holding a champagne flute and gazing from Zoe’s toes to top, a slow, appreciative inspection. “I told you,” was her greeting. “A very special dress, for a very special young lady. You look lovely, my dear. Welcome to the Pride.”

“Thank you.” Zoe’s stock of small talk wasn’t exhausted just yet, but it was close. “And thank you for all the clothes, and everything. It’s all beautiful.”

“You’ll have to tell me if you don’t like a particular piece, though, or if it’s uncomfortable to wear. I depend on that.” Janine nodded at Jack. “I’ll see you two again after the New Year, I’m sure. In the meantime, there’s canapés, so I’m off in that direction. Happy Christmas.”

“And also with you,” Jack replied, his mouth twitching into a grin when she glared at him.

“You’re not yet old enough to mouth off at me, pup.” She dropped a wink in Zoe’s direction and was gone into the crowd.

“Taking your life in both hands, Jackson,” McKenna commented as he passed. Lean and brunet, he was also cheerfully rumpled, with an air of menace lurking just under the surface. He looked a little like Royal—or, more exactly, what Royal had been trying like hell to be. Still, every time his hazel gaze found Jolie it softened, and so did the rest of him. Incrementally, but the difference was plain.

He had a bad case for the tall brunette girl, and she absolutely knew it. Jolie fluttered through the crowd, socializing with ease, McKenna trailing her with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a squat, smoked-glass tumbler of amber Scotch. For all that, neither of them orbited very far from Jack; neither did Dimitri and Bella, who were greeted with much visible enthusiasm.

The kitchen was humming, Amelia had no time to talk and simply smiled in their direction before whirling away

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