Aoba had never felt so simultaneously dumb and rewarded all at once before, watching the change that came over the Guardian. It thawed a lot of things in him, too, relaxing that worried, prepared-to-be-rebuffed posture of his own.

Told you so, went his ever-present commentary, though Desire felt oddly warm and fuzzy about it, too. ’Happy.’

“I promise I’ll come home,” he said, half correction and half reassurance, squeezing the hand wrapped so warmly around his own. “Wherever you are, Declan. You’ve felt like home ever since the first time you came back to me.”