Shadow's Kiss (Monstrous Hearts: Fleur's Story)

Epilogue

Fleur wiped sweat from her forehead while trudging back to her parents' car, doing her best to avoid the other students and their families carrying belongings toward the dorms. When she saw the trunk was still half-full, she groaned. "I can't believe I own this much shit."

She poked through things to find something light, pulling out a pillow that had been cushioning her PC tower. Just as she straightened up with it, Colton came up beside her and took it back out of her hands, giving her the cardboard box of programming books instead.

Her arms sagged against the weight. "I hate you."

To her surprise, he actually responded while reaching for the tower. "Why? I'm the one moving your things."

He wasn't wrong. Her father was currently on the phone arguing with someone because the parking lot app had malfunctioned and eaten their payment, her mother was in the room putting things in order, and Alice was in there, too, keeping her distracted from fussing over Fleur instead.

She eyed how Colton easily held what was probably a 60-pound computer and said, "It's 105 degrees, my room is in the farthest building from the parking lot, and I just finished carrying the microwave. My arms are about to fall off."

The whining worked. He grabbed half the books from the box and balanced them on the tower before heading for the dorm. With the lighter load, she was able to keep up.

This was the first chance today to talk to either Alice or Colton without her parents in earshot, and she took advantage of it. "So, have you noticed anything supernatural in the area? You pick up on that sort of thing without even trying, right?"

Unlike her, Colton seemed immune to the heat. He didn't even squint against the blistering sun. "If you want to ask about the bat, ask."

She glared. "Dario is not a bat. He's an innamorato. Besides, I wasn't necessarily talking about him. I could have meant... um, Lucretia coming back for revenge or something."

"You know I looked for her in the shadow world. She's gone."

"Are you admitting I did better at killing her than you?"

"I didn't end up dead afterward."

"Yeah, because you can't." For a moment, Fleur forgot about the sweat running down her neck and how tired her arms felt, instead studying him. "We're actually having a full conversation. You must be in an ecstatic mood. Are you happy for me entering my first big step of adulthood, or happy that I won't be around to eat all your food?"

He glanced at her, looking less irritated than she'd expected. "Alice had the 20-week ultrasound this morning. The baby's healthy and normal."

"Oh. That's great," said Fleur, and meant it. "You realize Mom will throw a baby shower the moment you guys tell the rest of the family."

He didn't answer beyond a sigh, and by the time they reached her room, she was too out of breath to continue annoying him. It was a triple-occupancy dorm room, and she had already worked things out with her roommates to where she would take the upper level of the bunk beds in return for not getting the desk stuck beneath the one single bed. It gave her just enough space to set up her rig. Colton put the tower on the desk and left again while her mom packed sunflower seeds, dried goji berries, and other snacks in one of the drawers. The sight of so much healthy food made Fleur even more glad that the cookie tin from Alice was already buried deep in her closet.

Alice was there, too, her white sundress barely hiding her belly while she finished putting sheets and a comforter on the bed. She glanced at Fleur and asked, "Has the pillow made it in?"

"I tried, anyway."

At the sound of her voice, her mother looked up. "There you are. I just finished organizing all the drawers in your desk. Toiletries, then snacks, and then miscellaneous things. That should clear enough space on the surface for your computer."