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SEVENTY-ONE
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2026-09-21 12:30:44Solace had never been much of a talker, not even as a boy, and Starr had forgotten, in her years away, how comfortable his silences could be, how they never once felt like distance the way Christopher's occasional quiet sometimes still did. He simply existed beside her, steady and present, the way he had at the cemetery gates that Saturday morning, waiting without a single word of complaint while she gathered the courage to walk through them.
"You don't have to come in with me," Starr
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DIAMOND HART SEVENTY-ONE
Solace had never been much of a talker, not even as a boy, and Starr had forgotten, in her years away, how comfortable his silences could be, how they never once felt like distance the way Christopher's occasional quiet sometimes still did. He simply existed beside her, steady and present, the way he had at the cemetery gates that Saturday morning, waiting without a single word of complaint while she gathered the courage to walk through them."You don't have to come in with me," Starr said, glancing at him. "I know it's been a while for you too.""I come every month," Solace said simply, already moving toward the gate. "I didn't stop, even when you did."Something in Starr's chest tightened at that, guilt and gratitude tangled together in a way she was learning, slowly, to simply feel without immediately trying to fix or explain away. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "For leaving you to carry all of it alone.""You weren't carrying nothing yourself," Solace
DIAMOND HART SEVENTY
The wedding planning began, appropriately enough, with an argument over the guest list, Starr sitting cross legged on her living room floor with a legal pad while Christopher paced behind the couch, Iris asleep in her bouncer between them."We are not inviting three hundred people," Starr said, for the third time. "I don't even like three hundred people combined across my entire life.""It's not about liking them, love, it's about the fact that my publisher will be devastated if he's not invited, and then my editor will be devastated that the publisher got invited and she didn't, and then-""Then we invite fewer publishing people," Starr said flatly. "I want a wedding, Christopher, not a networking event with vows attached."Christopher sighed, dropping onto the couch beside her, defeated in the particular way he always was whenever she used that exact tone. "Fine. Small wedding. Family, close friends, and I suppose I'll manage the fallout from my publish
DIAMOND HART SIXTY-NINE
Valentine had been planning this for months, ever since that afternoon in Christopher's kitchen when he'd let it slip he had a date in mind, and he'd spent every one of those months terrified he'd somehow give it away before he was ready, because Magnus, for all his chaos, had an uncanny gift for reading people.He'd chosen a rooftop, one Magnus had pointed out once, months ago, during a walk neither of them had planned to end anywhere romantic, saying offhandedly that it looked like the kind of place people proposed in movies. Valentine had filed the comment away and never mentioned it again, which had taken more discipline than he generally got credit for."Why are we going up here?" Magnus asked, following him up the narrow service stairwell with visible suspicion, one hand braced against the wall. "This building doesn't even have proper access to the roof. Is this legal?""Mostly legal," Valentine said, pushing open the access door to reveal string lights he
DIAMOND HART SIXTY-EIGHT
Three weeks had passed since the cabin, since the hospital, since the whole terrifying ordeal had finally quieted into something Starr could look back on without her hands shaking, and life had begun, slowly, to reassemble itself into something that resembled normal again. Iris slept in longer stretches now. Starr had returned to the office twice, briefly, mostly to remind everyone she still owned the place, before Christopher insisted, gently but firmly, that maternity leave existed for a reason.It was Sorcha's phone call on a Thursday evening that pulled Starr's attention away from folding an impossibly small pile of onesies."So," Sorcha said, and something in her voice carried an odd, nervous energy that immediately put Starr on alert. "I wanted to ask if it would be okay to bring someone to family dinner this Sunday."Starr set down the onesie she'd been folding, sitting up straighter. "Someone.""Heather," Sorcha said, in a rush, like the name migh
DIAMOND HART SIXTY-SEVEN
The detective who came to take Starr's official statement was patient and kind in a way that surprised her, given how many times she'd had to repeat the same details over the past week, first to the county sheriff's office, then to a lawyer, then again to a detective from the city who specialized in cases exactly like hers. Christopher sat beside her the entire time, Iris asleep against his chest in the sling Sorcha had bought them, his free hand resting on Starr's knee."Michael Adams has been formally charged," the detective told them, flipping through her notes. "Kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and a handful of related charges we're still building out. Given the premeditation involved, and given his own admissions on the record, we don't anticipate much difficulty securing a conviction.""And Emma?" Starr asked, surprising herself with how steady her voice came out.The detective glanced up. "Miss West has been cooperating fully. Volunteered everything, ac
DIAMOND HART SIXTY-SIX
The delivery room was too bright, too loud, too full of urgent voices telling her to breathe and push and breathe again, and through all of it Christopher stayed exactly where he'd promised he would, at her side, one hand gripping hers so tightly she wondered distantly if she was the one bruising him this time instead of the other way around."You're doing so well," he kept saying, over and over, his voice thick with tears he wasn't bothering to hide anymore. "Starr, look at me, you're doing incredible, she's almost here.""You keep saying that," Starr gasped, half laughing despite the pain, despite everything, because there was something in his face, some wide-open, helpless devotion, that made even this feel survivable."Because it's true every single time," he said, pressing a kiss to her damp forehead. "One more, love. The doctor says one more big push."Starr gathered whatever strength she had left, all the strength that had carried her out of a cabi
DIAMOND HART FOUR
Chris Chariton.Chris Chariton was the last person Starr was willing to see at that point in time, but it was the public, 'the will to see' law didn't apply there.He has a wide grin on, a grin wide enough to contain the lounge. "The club is the last place I'd have ever
DIAMOND HART TEN
DIAMOND HART SIX
Starr was distracted for the umpteenth time that day, thinking back about the time she had with Chris. She smiled to herself a bit, feeling like a teenage girl with a crush. She couldn't help it. Anytime she tried to focus, her body reminded her of how good that night had felt. It took everything
DIAMOND HART FIVE
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