A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"Bad luck to die young?" Norton frowned, his tone skeptical. "Well, that's not exactly great news."

Quentin shot Silas a look, too. "You're not gonna kick the bucket early, are you? What's Callie supposed to do if you croak on her?"

Silas was quiet for a moment, eyes flicking between them. After a pause, he finally spoke up. "Not sure I'd call it dying young, really. I mean, I'm pretty healthy, aren't I? Even if I did bite the dust, I've got enough set aside for Callie to be taken care of. And she could always move on, find someone new."

He shrugged, almost matter-of-fact. "I wouldn't mind if she found happiness again. But right now, I can give her that, and that's what matters. I want to be with her. And even if I'm gone, I'll be looking out for her, just, you know, from the other side."

You could tell from the look in Silas's eyes-he wasn't about to let Calliope go, not for anything.

Julius looked uncertain, fiddling with the edge of his sleeve. "Maybe I messed up the numbers," he muttered. "Could've been a glitch in the ol' fortune-teller routine. Might just be a false alarm."

He shook his head. "Anyway, I'm not always spot-on. Who knows if you'll die early? One thing's for sure: you're talented and loaded, and you'll probably stay that way. And honestly, Callie doesn't need your money. She's doing just fine in that department. But if you really love her, just treat her right, okay?"

"I know," Silas said, his gaze steady as steel. "I'll give her everything I can."

three of them didn't look totally convinced, but Silas's determination seemed to satisfy them for

and before long,

yawned.

give her a heads-up about their

clearly confused. "Wait, what? You're all bunking together? It's not like we don't have enough space here. There are plenty of guest rooms. Why

Mr. Myers, of all people, being okay

bed,

Besides, we can talk more once we're laying down. Callie,

at him, incredulous. She'd half-expected Silas to bail the second

fine with it, or I wouldn't have come to ask you," Quentin said. "We want your blessing, though. If you're not comfortable, we'll scrap

long as he's okay with it, it's fine by me." She tried

they slept, maybe they'd