Page 64 of Measure of the Stars

Chapter Thirteen

Ferrin’s house wasnothing like what Wes had expected.While it was certainly tidy, reflecting a need for cleanliness and order that Wes was only just suspecting might run in the family, there was a touch of chaos as well.Baskets placed throughout the house burst with scattered sewing supplies, bits of cloth, and cat toys.The colorful paintings on the walls had obviously been placed there by Ferrin’s submissive, a distractible young man named Silver who kept appearing with pastries, tea, and various cats.

Wes fully intended on collapsing in Ferrin’s spare bed as soon as he could find space between Silver’s probing questions, but he’d barely risen from his seat when someone rapped on the door.Ferrin stood, looking as tired as Wes felt, but the door swung open before he could take two steps.

Louise was just as Wes remembered her; tall and stern, with wide eyes and locs studded with gleaming clasps.She swept in without more than a nod to Silver and grabbed Wes by the shoulders.

“Ferrin sent word that you’d been hurt,” she said.Wes twisted around to shoot Ferrin a scowl, but Louise wasn’t having it.“I came over as soon as I heard.Who needs to die?”

“No one,” Wes said.“It’s been handled.”

Louise frowned, and Delauney made a sound that seemed suspiciously like a laugh.“I apologize,” he said, when Wes and Louise turned to look at him.“You all have the same scowl.Have you noticed?”he asked Silver.

Silver nodded, popping a piece of candy in his mouth.“It’s uncanny.”

“Wesley,” Louise said, her grip tightening on Wes’ shoulders.“Do you have aman?”

“Yes,” Delauney said, before Wes could explain that he didn’t possess anyone.“He does.”

Louise searched Wes’ face, shock in her big brown eyes.

“We might need to talk,” Wes said softly, glancing at Ferrin.

“Delauney,” Silver said, his tone bright.“Have you met our newest cat?Let’s lure him out of the kitchen with chicken, shall we?”

Delauney waited for Wes to give him the slightest nod before getting up.“That sounds lovely.”

In the end, Wes found himself sitting on Ferrin’s porch, watching Louise test Ferrin’s new porch swing while he fumblingly recounted the past few months.Now that he had a moment to think, even Louise seemed freer than she’d been the last time they’d met.Something had loosened in all of them, a knot unraveling before the tension could break it.

“Delauney sounds like he’s good for you,” Louise said at last, swinging with her toes dragging on the porch floor.“Even if his parents are fools.The Aviary is better, though.Men are fine, I suppose, but you should always seek to educate yourself.Not everyone does.”

Ferrin sighed.“I’ll get to it eventually, Lou.”

“Three months he’s had the book I lent him,” Louise said.“Three months, Wes.And what did I see on it just now?Dust.”

Ferrin groaned.Wes leaned back in his chair.It was strange, slipping into the rhythm of their relationship as an adult.It wasn’t the same.None of them were.But there was an echo there, a familiarity that only came with living in the same house for about a decade.It was the thinnest thread of a shared experience, but it was still there.Only they understood what it was to be a Leonhart, and somehow, that was enough to connect them.

“I’m sorry,” Wes said, suddenly.Louise stopped rocking the swing, her feet trailing on the floor.“I let things go on too long.You both tried to reach out to me, I know.But I was so angry for so long, and after a while, it was easier to let everything stay the way it was.”

“You were dragged out of the house,” Louise said.“I remember.Ferrin remembers.And Ferrin and I have only just started talking again.Really talking,” she added, when Ferrin tried to interrupt.“Like people whowantto.You weren’t the only one hiding from everyone, Wes.Our brave captain here would have worked himself into a lonely grave if it hadn’t been for Silver.”

Ferrin looked uncomfortable.“My duties...”

“Can end any time you want,” Louise said.“Tell him, Wes.”

“You really should think about retiring,” Wes said.Oddly, it was easier to join Louise and Ferrin’s camaraderie knowing how new it was.“You’re getting on in years.”

“Spirits, not you, too,” Ferrin said.

Louise smiled at Wes, and something shifted inside him, pain giving way to the foreign pressure of scar tissue.She leaned over and squeezed his hand.

“You’ll write me when you’re in Gerakia?”she asked.

Wes nodded.“I’ll try.”

“Good enough.”Louise idly pushed the swing back and forth with one foot, still watching him.“Now, tell me more about this business with the stars.Thats whatI’mcurious about.”