Traditions hold a special place for Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand. Through years of war, grief, and growing up without family, one thing kept them going: each other. Family wasn’t always blood — it could be made and chosen. They had found family in one another, and that’s why traditions meant so much. Starting new ones for their own, the males they loved as fiercely as blood.

But sometimes, a change in tradition can be more than welcome — even more special.

Azriel had won this year’s winter Solstice snowball fight. Not a surprise. He was far ahead in victories.

Now the three of them lounged in the sauna, as bare as the day they were born. You had planned to join them — until they began stripping and you realized they intended to go nude. Your cheeks flushed deep, and with a gulp, you urged them to go ahead without you.

Now Cassian, Azriel, and Rhysand lazed together, wings outstretched and relaxed, legs spread, expressions slack, soaking in every last bit of warmth and peace.

Cassian broke the silence, eyes fixed on the sauna door. “Do you think she’s coming?”

“That’s a change of tradition I’d be more than happy to implement,” Azriel quipped with a grin, imagining adding a female to their private ritual. Images of you, so at ease and bare, filled their minds. They’d shared space with lovers before — what difference would sharing a lover make?