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If you were to ask Kit Herondale about what his life was like before moving to Devon, he would answer with a simple “I lived in L.A”, and he might mention an old friend he had left on bad terms, and then he would talk about his life now. He would tell you about his parents, Jem and Tessa, and his little sister, Mina, who he loved more than anything else. He wouldn’t tell you anything else about what things were like in L.A.
Because Kit loved Devon. Before, he never had a family who really loved him. He never had someone who he could look at and know they loved him. He now knew he was capable of being loved, which was a luxury he had never been granted in California. He liked to forget most things that happened before. Or, he liked to pretend to forget.
He could pretend all he wanted. Pretend that he didn’t see grey eyes in his dreams and didn’t freeze up when he heard Tessa mention Sherlock, or pretend he didn’t go to the London Institute and sit on the roof and remember a night when he hadn’t been alone. Kit could pretend he didn’t miss Him with every passing day, and he could pretend that whenever he saw a boy with dark hair and headphones, he didn’t freeze up and stay unmoving until they turned around.
Maybe pretending was a bad way of doing things, but it was his only way of doing things, and that was how he had gotten by the past three years, since he had moved halfway across the world without a goodbye. He didn’t regret it; not at all. If he had any regrets about the events that had transpired when he had been fifteen and stupid, it was not speaking up sooner, not taking more time to worry about himself. Falling in love was a regret, or was it? He still didn’t know.
It was harder to pretend none of it had happened when Jem stood in front of him, Tessa at the table, pretending that she was occupied with Mina, but she was listening to every word they said.
“I don’t want to go,” Kit said for the second time. He didn’t want to look at Jem’s expression, filled with sympathy, a look only Jem could look at you with.
“They invited you specifically,” Jem noted. “They want you there.”
Why would they? Kit wanted to ask. Why would they want me there when I showed up, stayed for a few weeks, and then left? Why?
He didn’t ask anything.
“It’ll only be for a few days.”
Even a few days of being back there was going to kill him. Kit knew that.
He glanced at the invitation in Jem’s hand, the second one, addressed to him and Tessa, was on the table. This one had his name on it and his heart had plummeted the second Jem showed it to him.
Emma and Julian were getting married, which was fantastic for them. Really, Kit was happy for them. He didn’t know much of what had happened with them being parabatai and them not being able to date or whatever they had been doing, but he had noticed how both of them seemed happier in the few times they had visited. So he was happy they were finally getting married after already acting like an old married couple, but the thought of going to that wedding made him feel like he was going to throw up all over the floor Tessa had just cleaned the night before.
Okay, it wasn’t the wedding that he hated the idea of.
He was going to be there, and Kit didn’t know how he could do that.
If He was not in the situation, Kit would already be packing, glad to have a chance to go back to the city he had grown up in. While he loved Devon, he did miss L.A, but he didn’t think it was worth it, to go back and be right where he had had some rough moments.
“I still don’t want to go,” Kit said, shuffling his shoes and hoping that they would let him stay home.
Tessa spoke up from where she was feeding Mina. “It’s not the worst idea out there. You could see the rest of the Blackthorns again.”
He was certain that Tessa and Jem had an idea of why he turned away whenever the Blackthorns were brought up, or why he suddenly had plans every time Emma and Julian visited. They knew, and he could tell now by the way they wanted him to go so badly.
“It’s only a few days,” Tessa told him, and Kit knew then that there was no way he was getting out of it. “And you have a few months before it happens. You’ll be fine.”
Kit was not fine.
They were leaving in twenty minutes and he was going to be sick.
He wasn’t going to make it to L.A. Nope, Tessa and Jem would find his dead body and the wedding would be crashed by the sudden need of a funeral.
He hoped Emma wouldn’t kill him again for ruining her wedding.
No, she totally would.
“Kit?”
Tessa stood in his doorway, already with a bag over her shoulder.
“I don’t think I can go,” Kit said. He coughed. “I’m sick.”
She raised an eyebrow at him, stepping into the room and adjusting his shirt collar. “You’ll be just fine.”
He wanted to believe her, but all he could think about was the way he had left. Not just leaving Him, but Dru, who had been so eager to tag along with them, and who he had taught how to pick locks. He liked to think that the two of them had been friends, but then he had left. Julian, who had been distant, and Kit had never known him well, but he respected him. He was also a bit scared, but that was neither here nor there. And then Emma, who had always been kind to him, even from the moment when they had first met and she hadn’t known who he was. Livvy, who was one of the few people Kit knew had been his friend. She was only a ghost now, but he still felt bad for leaving her, She could talk to so few people. Which went back to Him, and Kit didn’t want to think about Him.
He had left them all without a second word. One moment, he had been there, eating meals with them and trying to find his place, and the next he was halfway across the world.
Part of him wondered if they even remembered him. If they even cared.
He wouldn’t blame them if not.
“What if they all hate me?” Kit asked.
“They will not hate you,” Tessa told him firmly. “I promise you that.”
He wanted to point out how Tessa couldn’t make a promise like that, but the thought left his mind when she hugged him tightly.
“I love you, Kit, okay? And if we need to go home, we will take you home. Just try.”
He barely knew what to say to that, so he hugged her back and nodded into her shoulder.
“We have to go soon,” Tessa said after a few moments, pulling back and smiling at him, the smile that could only be given by a mother.
Sometimes, it was still weird for Kit to think about. How he had a mother. He knew when he was little, he had Rosemary, but he didn’t remember anything about her. Tessa though, he was certain he would always remember Tessa.
Perhaps if Kit was braver, he would admit how nervous he was, how he couldn’t shake his worries away, and how he didn’t know how he was going to do this without collapsing from… feelings. There were so many feelings associated with L.A and the Blackthorns.
Too many feelings was why he had left in the first place.
When he got downstairs, Jem was holding Mina, smiling at her as she babbled about a ladybug she had seen outside earlier that day. Kit couldn’t help but smile when he saw them.
“Are you ready to go?”
He wasn't.
They were only going for two days, but Kit didn’t know if he was ever going to be ready. How could he be ready for this?
Jem, like he always did, seemed to understand what Kit was thinking. “You don’t have to talk to him.”
Kit knew that. He knew that he could avoid Him like he was the plague if he wanted to, but somehow, he had a feeling that was going to be even worse.
But Kit nodded, because he knew that they did have to go. Tessa and Jem were both beyond excited to go to this wedding, and even if he was about to forget how to breathe, he wasn’t going to keep them from going.
Tessa made a portal, and it became all too real as he looked at it, and then looked towards his parents, taking one deep breath because he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to do this. See the Blackthorns again after three years of silence. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he couldn’t help the flicker of excitement in his chest. Maybe that was what drove him to step forward and into the portal, with his family behind him.
When he got out of the portal, he was yet again on the beach of L.A, and he hadn’t been prepared for the way the memories would slam into him like a truck. The Institute was right ahead of him, and just down the beach was where he had seen Him with that starfish, where he had spied with the twins, where he had his first real friends.
Tessa, Jem, and Mina were only a few seconds behind him, yet he hardly even noticed them.
He could see the kitchen lights on, and he could imagine Julian at the stove, making pancakes, while the rest of his siblings sat around him, a blur of activity, one that Kit had always found himself clinging onto. It had been those moments that made him think that maybe, just maybe, he could find a home with the Blackthorns.
In the end, that had been wrong. He supposed that it would’ve been nice, to stay there, but he didn’t regret leaving. He knew that moving to Devon was one of the best choices he could’ve made.
Jem put a hand on Kit’s shoulder, gently guiding him to the Institute doors, even though Kit’s feet felt like they were stuck in tar.
Too soon, Tessa was knocking on the door and Kit was certain he was about to pass out. They wouldn’t be mad at him if he did, right?
The time the passed between that first knock and the door swinging open seemed to last twenty years, and for each beat of his heart, all Kit could do was stare, and stare, and stare, until the door did open and Julian Blackthorn was behind it and Kit could see inside the Institute and that was where he had seen Him when he had been here for the first time and these stairs were where they had become Sherlock and Watson and Kit couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this and he didn’t know how anyone expected him to.
Julian was grinning, and he hugged Tessa and Jem, and then took Mina. “You’ve gotten so big!” he said.
After a few moments, Julian turned towards Kit and nodded at him. “It’s nice to see you again, Kit.”
“It’s nice to be back,” Kit replied. A lie. But Kit grew up a Rook; he was an expert when it came to lying.
He hung a few feet back as they walked inside and he tried to pretend that he didn’t feel ready to fall over at any given second because he knew these hallways and he knew them well, and somewhere in this building, He was there.
But, he was good at acting. So he went with to the kitchen, which was alive with activity. Kit wouldn’t have expected anything less, but he had gotten used to Devon, which had always been so quiet in the mornings, the most chaos being when Mina decided to throw one of her fits.
Here, Aline was standing at the stove, though Julian took his spot back as soon as he walked into the room and Aline went to sit at the table next to her wife. Tavvy was standing by the counter, talking Julian’s ear off. Julian answered with a smile every time and Kit could tell that he loved every moment of it. Emma was sitting cross legged on the counter with an apple. Dru was pouring herself a a glass of juice, and Mark was bickering with Kieran and Cristina in the corner.
They all looked up at them when they walked in and Kit wanted to disappear.
Luckily, Jem and Tessa were there too, and they went over to Emma, who grinned and started to catch up. She was talking about the wedding, and how excited she was for it and Tessa said something about how she had always loved weddings.
Kit hovered by the doorway, not sure where he belonged in their dynamic that was the same as it had been before. Before, Kit would be next to Him and Livvy, but neither of them were there right now. In the back of his mind, he wondered where they had gone, before he looked down at the floor instead, already thinking of all the places he would rather be right then.
Dru was the first one to walk over to him. She walked up and punched him.
“Ow!” Kit said, rubbing his arm. She had a good punch.
“You deserved it,” Dru said.
She had grown up. Of course, he had known that. But he didn’t really see it until she was right in front of him. She had lost some of the baby fat that had been in her cheeks, and she was curvier than she had been, and he could tell just from one glance that she was more confident in herself, that she carried herself differently.
“I did,” he admitted, because he was surprised she was even talking to him.The two of them had almost been friends back then, and he still remembered how good she had been at lock picking. Though, she had learned from the best, after all.
But then Dru hugged him tightly, and he was too shocked to hug her back. “You’re an idiot,” she said.
“I know.”
So, Dru seemed to forgive him.
She sat next to him at the table and told him all about her new friends at the Academy, and he was glad to listen to her. He had missed her, too, while he was gone. He even agreed to watch a horror movie with her before she left, even though he had always hated them.
Kit was having fun with her, yet he couldn’t help but keep looking towards the doorway. He tried to act like he wasn’t disappointed every time it was empty, but he didn’t think he was very good at hiding it.
“Ty isn’t back until tomorrow,” Dru said quietly, so only Kit could hear her.
“I wasn’t looking for him,” he lied.
“You’re allowed to miss him.”
But he shouldn’t be, because he had left at the worst possible time in the worst possible way and he hadn’t even been able to work up the courage to say goodbye. He should’ve at least said goodbye.
Kit looked back down at his food. “What movie are we watching?”
Dru looked at him for a second, before she started talking about this movie he had heard of before, The Quiet Place. He listened, and nodded, but even he knew that he wasn’t fully there. Now that he knew exactly when he would see Him again, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to focus on anything else. Not with the looming knowledge of a reunion Kit had been avoiding for the past three years.
Which was why it took him so long to realize that someone was talking to him. “Kit?” Emma asked again.
“Huh?” Kit asked, glancing over at her. He had seen her, too, over the past few years, briefly, but never enough to get a good look at her. She looked older than she had before, and she looked so much happier than she ever had.
“How are you liking Devon? You’re never around when we visit.”
“I love it,” Kit said. “It’s quiet. It’s really nice.”
“Do you have any friends?”
Kit shrugged. He had people he talked to, who he hung out with sometimes. But they were all mundanes, and he didn’t think he could be proper friends with them, since he had to hide such a big part of himself from them. It was hard enough to explain his runes. He swore every single time that his cousin designed temporary tattoos, and he tried them out. He wasn’t sure how much they believed him, but they didn’t have a better reason.
So, no, he didn’t really have any friends.
Emma seemed to understand his silence, so she quickly started to ask about his training.
“I’ve beat Jem a few times,” Kit said. Jem, on the other side of the table, was smiling proudly. “He says that I’m getting better.”
“He’s much, much better than he was when he came to live with us,” Jem said, pride in his voice that still made Kit turn away and smile shyly down towards his plate. It was still hard to believe that someone was proud of him, and he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to it.
“Could he beat me?” Emma asked.
Kit jerked his head up, eyes wide. “Probably.”
He definitely couldn’t, and he was definitely setting himself up for humiliation.
Aline laughed. “She’s gonna kill you.”
“Wanna bet?” Kit asked.
“Oh yeah. Twenty bucks that she beats you to a pulp,” Aline challenged.
“It’s on,” Kit agreed.
Julian, beside Emma, was shaking his head. “If you get a black eye right before our wedding-”
“It would be so hot if I had a black eye in wedding pictures,” Emma said with a grin. She turned back towards Kit. “Tomorrow morning, meet you in the training room. You’re very lucky I have wedding stuff to finish the rest of the day.”
“I’ll be ready with a stele,” Dru whispered to him.
The next morning, Kit was regretting all the choices he had made the day before. He was going to die, but at least he would die before he saw Him, so maybe it was worth it.
But part of him still wanted to win. He really didn’t want to have to give Aline twenty bucks.
At least agreeing to this had done one thing; things between him and the Blackthorns seemed to be good. None of them seemed to hate him, and he had slipped right back into the dynamic he had known with them before. Except for one thing, but he didn’t want to think about that.
Apparently, Emma’s definition of morning meant eight a.m, and that was after she had gone on her daily run, too. And even though Kit was suffering from some major jet lag, he was a firm believer that it should be a crime to be up and running before ten in the morning. Much less fighting someone that early.
But he had dragged himself out of bed and put on his gear, which he had somehow managed to remember, and gone down to the training room, where Emma, Dru, Julian, and Jem were already waiting. Dru, true to her word, was carrying a stele.
“You do know that you don’t have to do this,” Julian said.
“You could walk out of here with your dignity,” Dru said.
“I’m doing it,” Kit said. “Why isn’t Aline here? Isn’t the bet with her?”
“She said there was no way in hell she was getting up this early, so she sent Jem to be her neutral person. Said she trusted him to tell him who actually wins.”
Kit gasped and turned on Jem. “Betrayed by my own father? I see how it is?”
Jem shrugged, as if saying that he hadn’t had any control over it.
“You ready?” Emma asked, tying her hair up in a swift ponytail.
Kit really, really, wasn’t, but he still nodded and joined her in the center of the room, the rest of them stood against the wall.
Emma smirked at him. “You’re going to be twenty dollars poorer in a few minutes.”
“I think Aline will be.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Emma said, before throwing the first hit, which Kit barely managed to block.
“I wasn’t ready!” he exclaimed in defense.
“Yeah, I really don’t care if you’re ready or not,” she replied.
Kit was pretty sure he was doing better than any of them thought he would, from the shocked expressions both Julian and Dru wore ten minutes later as Kit managed to pin one of Emma’s arms behind her back, but she managed to get free again. He noticed with a start that he was taller than Emma now.
He didn’t let himself dwell on it for too long, as she grabbed him in a chokehold and he was pretty sure he was done for. Kit elbowed her in the ribs, and winced, but she let go of him.
She surely hadn’t expected him to last this long.
Kit was shocked too, to be honest.
“Come on Kit!” Dru shouted, the stele forgotten at her side.
“He’s so dead,” Julian said.
Emma grinned towards him. “This is why I love you,”
While Emma was distracted, Kit moved to take her down to the ground, and she even stumbled. He was sure that if he hadn’t seen a movement in the doorway, he could’ve taken her down.
“What’s going on?” Ty Blackthorn asked in the doorway.
Kit froze.
Ty was tall. He was really tall, taller than Julian. He was more muscular, no longer the skinny boy he had been at fifteen. His features had sharpened, the baby fat leaving his face. His lips were fuller, his eyes deeper.
He was still beautiful.
Ty’s eyes landed on him for only a second before Kit was shoved to the ground by Emma, who cheered. “I won!” she shouted to the side.
Kit was sure that seeing the boy you had fallen in love with, attempted necromancy with, been rejected by, and ran halfway across the world from was enough to give him a break, but whatever.
Kit only had a blink of an eye to register that Ty Blackthorn was here and he was going to have to say something to him soon, before Emma pulled him up. “You did good. I’m just better than everyone.”
He rolled his eyes before turning around. Ty was still there, staring at him.
“Kit,” he said. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Kit said weakly, hating his voice.
The other four in the room exchanged a glance, before they left the room, all mumbling about something to do with wedding planning, which Kit knew was pretty much done, and that Helen was handling the rest.
“Ty-Ty,” a voice in the hallway said. “They got a really good cake. I checked it and-”
The ghost of Livia Blackthorn stopped in the doorway, next to her brother.
She wasn’t a day older than she had been the day she died, and Kit couldn’t help but feel a stab of pain. Him and Ty had gotten older. Everyone else had. She had not, and Livvy would never age another day.
“Herondale,” Livvy greeted.
“Hey Livvy,” Kit said.
He had seen Livvy a few times in the past years, but in the past few months, she had stopped coming as much. But she was still the closest thing he had to a real friend. And he loved her for that. He didn’t know what it said about someone when their best friend was a ghost, and he honestly didn’t know if he wanted to ask anyone that question.
“What were you doing?” Ty asked, and Kit noticed his voice was deeper.
“I was, uh, fighting Emma. Aline bet that I would lose.”
Ty’s hands were flickering at his sides. He nodded. “That was stupid. Emma beats everyone.”
Kit chuckled. “Yeah. I knew I was going to lose.”
Livvy was looking between the two of them as if one of them was a bomb about to go off.
“You’re back,” Ty said. “For the wedding. How long are you staying?”
“We’re leaving after the wedding. So… tonight,” Kit said. He realized that he wasn’t sure he wanted to go home that soon. He had no idea when that change had taken place, but it terrified him.
“Oh.” Ty said.
“Yeah…”
Kit hated how awkward it was between the two of them. It used to be so easy, being with Ty. They used to fit together and nothing in his life had been easier.
Three years had put a lot of distance between the two of them.
“How’s the Scholomance?” Kit asked. He had been curious about it since Tessa had told him that Ty was going, and he was happy that Ty was finally doing what he had always wanted to do.
“It’s good,” Ty said. “I have a Carpathian Lynx. Her name is Irene.”
“Really?” Kit asked. “She sounds great.”
Ty nodded. “She is. Livvy and I saved her, and then I kept her. She usually doesn’t like strangers, but she likes me. And she can see Livvy. She likes to play with her.”
“You’re lucky to have a nice pet,” Kit said. “Church is out to kill me.”
“Church was sweet,” Ty said. “You just had to get to know him.”
“You sound exactly like Jem.”
Livvy smiled. “So he sounds like your dad.”
Kit made a face, and Ty cracked a small smile.
Ty glanced at the watch he wore around his wrist. “I have to go and put my stuff away. I’ll see you at the wedding.”
“See you at the wedding.” Kit agreed.
Getting ready for the wedding was much harder than Kit had thought it would be. He had known he would see Ty there, of course, but now Ty was going to talk to him at said wedding, which meant that he had to actually care about how he looked. Most of the time, he made sure he at least looked decent before he moved on. But he cared about looking good when Ty would be around.
Which was stupid. Ty wasn’t going to care if Kit buttoned the top button on his shirt or if he left it undone. Ty didn’t feel anything for Kit and he never had, so why did Kit care so much?
He did, and he was still freaking out by the time Tessa and Jem walked by his room.
“Are you almost ready?” Tessa asked. “We have to be down there soon.”
“I know,” Kit mumbled. He looked in the mirror one last time, before he decided to leave the top one undone. He turned towards his parents and walked with them down to the beach.
When he found out the wedding was on the beach, he hadn’t been shocked at all. It was fitting, for them.
He couldn’t help that as soon as they got to the stretch of beach that had been decorated, he started to look for Ty. He didn’t know why he did. After all, they weren’t really friends. Just because they had one brief conversation didn’t mean anything. But Kit was pretty sure that he would spend the rest of his life looking for Ty.
Kit eventually found him, sitting in the front row next to an empty chair. Only three people in attendance could see Livvy sitting there, her face unbelievably sad. But she still wore a smile as she looked up at Julian, standing next to Mark, dressed in gold. The rest of the Blackthorns sat in the front row.
He sat in the middle, next to Tessa and Mina, Jem on the other side of her. Mina was whispering about how pretty Emma was going to look in her pretty dress. Kit didn’t doubt her. In fact, he was sure Emma would look beautiful. Most Shadowhunters did, to be fair though.
Emma came down the aisle a bit later, a huge grin on her face. Her and Julian clearly only had eyes for each other as they stood in the sand and exchanged their vows and their runes.
Kit couldn’t help but look over at Ty.
Ty was looking at him too.
He didn’t know which one of them turned away first, but his heart hammered in his chest so loud that he wouldn’t be shocked if Tessa could hear it.
By the time Emma and Julian kissed, looking like they had been waiting their entire lives to do it, Kit was still thinking about that look. He supposed he was still as in love with Ty as he had been three years ago.
He wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or not.
The reception was on the beach too, and with a wave Magnus’ hand, the beach was littered in tables, some filled with food, and some not, with a space in the center that Kit assumed was for dancing.
He followed Jem and Tessa to a table towards the edge. Mina was saying she needed to go and tell Emma that she was pretty this second, and Jem was trying to explain that she had to wait, and why doesn’t she go and play with Max and Rafe, but she still wasn’t having it and sat in her chair with her arms crossed. Jem sighed.
The cake was cut, and he stayed with his family. This was Julian’s wedding, and the rest of the Blackthorns would want to spend time with him. He was fine with that, and wasn’t paying too much attention to them until there was a voice at his shoulder.
“Can we talk?” Ty asked.
Livvy was noticeably absent.
Kit glanced at Tessa and Jem, who both nodded eagerly, knowing smiles on their faces. Kit got up. “Yeah.”
Ty led him to the edge of the celebration. “Why did you leave?”
Ty had always been blunt, but Kit didn’t know how to answer that question. He didn’t know what to say, because the truth involved him bringing up that cursed night on the lake and tears and confession and some of the worst pain he had ever felt in his life.
“I… needed to get away.”
“From here?”
Kit nodded.
“But… I thought you meant to never being parted,” Ty said.
Kit looked at him. He was messing with the cord of his headphones, and he wanted to do anything he could to get the distressed look off his face, but he didn’t know how to do that.
“I did.”
“But then you left.”
Kit closed his eyes lightly. “Yeah, yeah, I did.”
“Why? What did you need to get away from?”
How was he supposed to say “you”? How was he supposed to tell the truth when the truth was that Ty had broken his heart, and he couldn’t bear even the thought of staying and having to see him every day, and knowing that Ty didn’t want him as anything.
“A lot happened, Ty. I mean, my dad died in front of me. And then Livvy died, and… I needed to get away for a while.”
“You could’ve written to me. Or texted me. Or something,” Ty said.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“You’re not telling me everything.” Ty said suddenly. “Why else did you leave?”
Kit looked up, startled. “I-”
“Was it me? You were mad at me that day, of the battle. I’m sorry for bringing Livvy back. I… I thought you loved her. I thought you would be happy.”
“ What ?” Kit asked, his jaw falling open. “You thought I loved Livvy?”
“You kissed her.”
Most of the time, Kit forgot that ever happened. It hadn’t really meant anything, in the long run. He was glad it happened, glad that Livvy had gotten to kiss someone before her premature death, but it had never been anything to either of them. He hadn’t realized that Ty had even seen that.
“I didn’t love her.”
“Then why would you kiss her?”
Kit smiled sadly. “She asked me to kiss her. She had never kissed anyone, and wanted to be kissed. So, I did. It never meant anything more than that. We were only ever friends.”
“Oh,” Ty said.
“I…” Kit paused, knowing the world that were about to fall from his mouth could ruin everything. But he was leaving that night, and he never had to come back here if things went badly. “I only ever loved you.”
Ty frowned. “But… you left. I thought you didn’t leave the people you loved.”
“You didn’t love me back,” Kit said with a shrug. “And it hurt. A lot. So I left.”
“That’s silly,” Ty said.
Kit raised an eyebrow, but Ty kept talking.
“I always loved you.”
“ What ?” Kit asked for the second time that conversation.
Ty had loved him? But that didn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t he have said anything, that night on the lake, or the next day? Why would he listen to Kit say he loved him and go back to raising someone from the dead?
He supposed that if Ty had thought Kit loved Livvy the whole time… maybe it made more sense, maybe it was reasonable. But still, Ty had loved him?
“I’ve loved you,” Ty said, “and you haven’t known it.”
Kit certainly hadn’t known it, and he couldn’t do anything but stare at Ty, open mouthed. What did one say when their best friend from three years before said they had loved you, when you had spent the last three years thinking he hated you? He was pretty sure there wouldn’t be a WikiHow article for that.
Ty looked at the floor for a second, before he held his hand out. “Do you want to dance?”
The day before, Kit never would’ve guessed that this would happen, that Tiberius Blackthorn would be standing in front of him and asking him to dance.
Kit took his hand. “I would love to.”
Ty led him to the dance floor, as some Taylor Swift song started playing.
Kit tugged on Ty’s hand. “If I don’t get to dance to Taylor Swift at this wedding, I might just murder someone.”
Ty smiled. “Then let’s dance.”
Kit grinned, and made a mental note to ask Tessa and Jem if he could stay longer.
One more night wasn’t nearly enough to be in love with Ty Blackthorn.