“No,” I said, softening. “I envy that you’re such a strong person, despite those things. I wish I could speak my mind like you, and be the kind of person who people don’t try to walk all over. You don’t put up with crap from anyone. And . . .” I glanced down at her low-cut V-necked sweater with the perfect amount of cleavage on display. “I envy your boobs.”

Marna snorted. Kope swiftly turned and walked away with a shake of his head. Ginger held my eyes as she crossed her arms under her chest, fluffing her boobs upward even higher.

“They are rather nice,” she admitted. Marna bent over at the waist and laughed now. Ginger and I cracked a smile at the same time, stepping back from each other as the tension slightly lifted.

“Please come back, Kope,” Marna called. He’d gone to look out a window across the room. “Let’s all sit down and have tea before it gets cold.”

His gait was stiff as he walked to the square white table and sat.

“There, there, luv,” Marna patted his shoulder and placed a cup of warm tea in front of him. “You poor dear, having to hang out with the likes of us.” She winked at me.

He kept his eyes down. It was clear he didn’t trust us not to steer the conversation into uncomfortable territory again. I picked up a book that had gotten pushed aside by the tea tray. It was a book of sign language.

“Ooh,” Marna said, taking a dainty sip of tea. “We’re learning! You guys should learn it, too. Blake and Kai came up with the idea to learn sign language for those times when they weren’t sure if their fathers were within range.”

“That is very dangerous but smart,” Kope remarked.

“Isn’t it?” Ginger asked. “I can’t believe those two thought of it. Marna and I made up our own general signs when we were younger, just playing around, but this will be better.”

“Do you think the whisperers have picked up on sign language, though?” I asked.

“Well, we obviously wouldn’t use it in front of them,” Ginger said. “It’d just be for when Dukes are nearby, but no one can see us. Thought about making up our own, but that’d take too damn long.”

I nodded.

“Supposedly Kaidan’s having a difficult time ’cause he can’t say swear words in every sentence,” Marna said with a smile. “He’s determined to find signs for cursing or make some up himself.”

“Really?” I asked. “He doesn’t cuss that much.” In fact, I’d only heard him use a few minor words here and there. I looked up to find Marna and Ginger staring at me with disbelieving expressions.

“What?” I asked.

It started with small giggles, Marna trying to hide hers behind her hand. When the two of them made eye contact, the dam broke and their laughter burst forth in a torrent. They howled, egged on by each other, stomping their pretty feet and smacking their legs. I looked at Kope, whose expression was as somber as ever while he watched them. He would not look at me. Marna shook her head, trying to explain through a bout of mirth.

“I’m sorry, luv, it’s just that Kai has the filthiest mouth of any bloke I’ve ever met!”

Another round of sisterly cackling. I felt my skin heating.

“But he never . . .” I let the sentence die in the midst of their laughter, shrinking inside. I didn’t like the feeling that crept over me. Envy? How pitiful to be jealous that Kai hadn’t cursed much in front of me, as if he could be himself with them and not me. Marna took a gasping breath and reached for my hand, working hard to control herself.

“Don’t be upset, please. It’s just the very idea . . .”

I wanted to believe Kai’s reasons were sweet and respectful, but the twins made me wonder if he’d been catering to my personality. We’d had such precious little time together, and I didn’t want to think that any of it had been fake.

I stared at the tea set. It’d been fifteen months since Kaidan and I drove cross-country together. Why was I letting this get to me now? And I wished the twins would stop sniggering already.

“It just feels wrong swearing in front of you,” Marna said, “like a sweet little granny is in the room.” She said it with utter innocence, but my eyes bugged.

“A granny?”

Ginger didn’t try to hide her amusement.

“Oh, come off it,” Marna told her sister. “Even you hold back when Anna is around.”

Ginger frowned and shrugged noncommittally.

“Anna,” Kope said, forcing me to look at him. “Are you ready to tell them?”

God love him. The boy knew exactly what to say to kill the current conversation and pull me out of this rut. I breathed in. Time to focus. I nodded at Kope, and hoped he could see the gratitude in my eyes. I let out the breath, working to tuck away all thoughts of Kai.

The twins had finally stopped laughing and wore expectant looks on their faces.

“Remember the nun I told you about who passed away during my trip to California?”

They both nodded.

“Well, her spirit came to me this summer . . .”

I don’t think either of them blinked or moved as I told them about the angelic Nephilim spirit and the prophecy. After I finished, several minutes of complete silence passed.

When Marna finally spoke, her voice was so small and childlike that it nearly shattered my heart. “Will they really be gone? We won’t have to work anymore?”