“To Robyn, my wife. My best friend.” He raised his glass.
“To Robyn!”
When Lachlan took his seat beside her, Robyn kissed him so long and so deep, only the catcalls from the crowd (i.e., Brodan and Arran) broke them apart.
Their happiness washed over me, suffocating any hint of bitterness, and I felt more like myself again.
2
Arro
“You seem a little happier,” Arran observed as we danced to a slow Idlewild track.
“Happier?” I frowned, swaying to the slow rhythm. “Really? Because I was just thinking this song is depressing.”
The folk band had finished their set of energetic, enthusiastic music that had gotten everyone on their feet. The deejay then took over and was playing a selection of Robyn and Lachlan’s favorite songs.
“Stop avoiding the subject.”
“What subject?”
“The subject of your mood. I know things are a wee bit tense between us all since I got home, but something else is going on with you.” Arran bent his head to force me to look into his eyes, the same shade of blue as Lachlan’s. All my brothers were blond and blue-eyed, but while Lachlan and Thane were a rugged, rough-around-the-edges kind of handsome, Brodan was classically good-looking. Arran was just a younger, smoother version of Lachlan.
While Lachlan and Thane couldn’t understand Arran’s need to be so far from us all the time, I tried to. Growing up, Lachlan had been like a father to me, and Thane was a typical overprotective big brother. Brodan and Arran, however, had been my friends as well as my big brothers. Especially Arran. He’d been dreaming of adventures for as long as I could remember. He just didn’t seem to have it in him to stand in one place for too long.
Truthfully, though, his prolonged absence had hurt. And it made little sense. Arran was a wanderer, but he’d made it clear, until a few years ago, that his family was still a priority.
“Where have you been?” I turned the tables on him.
His hand tightened in mine. “I’m sorry I stayed away too long.”
“Arran,” I said, leaning in, not wanting to be overheard, “someone tried to kill Lachlan. A man tied up your niece and nephew and used them to terrorize Regan. Do you understand all that?”
He blanched guiltily and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Just tell me why,” I pleaded. “Why didn’t you come back when we needed you?”
Something hardened in his expression. “What’s going on with you and Mac?”
I tensed. “Nothing’s going on.”
Arran smirked unhappily. “Then I guess there’s no good reason I didn’t come home until now. I’m just a bit of a prick.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Then your belief is wrong.” He looked away, the muscle in his jaw popping with his agitation. His hand tightened in mine again as his eyes narrowed. I followed Arran’s gaze, my brows raising to find it had landed on Eredine as she danced with Brodan.
Brodan held Ery awfully close as he murmured things to her that made her smile shyly.
I’d suspected Brodan had a thing for Ery for a while now, but for whatever reason, he hadn’t made a move. Ery was so closed off, I wasn’t sure a move would be appreciated, anyway. Yet sometimes I caught her watching him in a way that suggested maybe he fascinated her too.
Frowning, I glanced up at Arran. He didn’t know Eredine that well, hadn’t been around long enough to get to know her. But it didn’t surprise me he’d noticed her. One, she was a knockout, an attractive mix of soft-spoken kindness and dry wit. Not that she showed the latter until she was comfortable with you. Two, the entirety of their youthful romantic lives (i.e., from the time Arran was ten—he and Brodan matured quickly in the girl department), my brothers had vied for the same girls. Their tastes were worryingly similar. They’d put their competitiveness with girls aside; however, when Arran slept with Brodan’s best friend, Monroe Sinclair, they’d had a big falling-out after that.
While Brodan insisted he was angry Arran had crossed the line by sleeping with a girl they’d agreed was off-limits, I always believed there was more to it, that perhaps Monroe had meant more to Brodan than he’d acknowledged. Anyway, Monroe left my brothers, Ardnoch, and her family behind after that, and Arran and Brodan finally mended their rift. They never went after the same woman again.
“She’s beautiful, kind, witty, guarded, difficult to get to know. I’m her closest friend here, and even I don’t really know her.”
Arran frowned, his attention still on Ery. “What?”