Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
FINLEY
Etienne shifted beside me, drawing his knees up to his chest as he eyed me curiously. I turned away, not wanting him to watch me too closely, and ran my hands over the tall, unkept grass of our backyard.
He’d noticed my silence when I came home after my encounter with the daughter of the gods.
My solemn attitude followed me throughout the day, so when he insisted we eat supper outside, I was all too eager to comply.
The way my intended knew me warmed my cold bones.
Unfortunately, it did little to stop Zaicha’s words that played on a loop in my mind.
“You, sweet Finley, are so much more than their fear of you.”
As one of Niev’s warriors, my blade, my magic, and my life belonged to the king and queen. It didn’t blot out the truth I yearned to see in her words.
For a few beats, I lost myself to the vibration that thrummed deep in the ground, which I associated with the earth’s heart. It was a silly thought, but it made me feel special. Like the earth had decided to reveal herself to me while she shut others out.
Etienne bumped his knee against mine. “I think I’ll sleep outside tonight.” The words came out slowly, and when his hand trembled, he gripped it in his lap.
It’d been close to a month since his last seizure. Subtly, so he wouldn’t notice, I sniffed the air around him, trying to pick up the scent I’d started associating with his tremors. I didn’t smell anything but the trees and dirt.
If it wasn’t a seizure, then it had to be his anxiety. Even our yard that extended toward the forest, large as it was, could trigger him, making him feel as if the trees themselves were closing in on him.
In the months he’d been tormented and tortured in the human realm, he’d come to loathe closed spaces. While we slept in our home regularly and most times he was at peace, the nightmares that plagued him occasionally caught him by surprise while still awake.
“Why don’t we take our sleeping mats to the river?” I suggested.
His heavy sigh punctured the tension that coiled inside him. His shoulders loosened slightly, and he gave me a small, sad smile. “You don’t have to sleep outside with me.”
But I wouldn’t leave him alone tonight, knowing that if his anxiety had already taken root, it’d make the night terrors worse.
“I like sleeping under the stars,” I said, knocking my knee against his the same way he’d done earlier. “But I’d like it even more if we slept at the edge of the river.”
He made a show of rolling his eyes, but already the tension that had tightened his muscles started to relax further. “Thank you.” He said it quietly, but the sentiment brushed my heart like a gentle breeze.
“You’ve done a lot more for me,” I said, my voice gruff and careful. “If we’re keeping tabs, then I still owe you a few thousand more niceties or favors,” I said.
“Finny . . .” He took my hand and squeezed. “We take care of each other. That’s how we’ve always worked.”
I nodded, swallowing back the emotions that crept into my throat. Just as I went to answer, a shadow flew over the dark sky.
Before I could investigate, Etienne stiffened, and my gut twisted at the pained expression on his face. All too quickly, his face slackened, and he tipped his head to the sky.
“Why don’t you lie down?” I urged, not bothering to hide the worry in my voice.
The stubborn brute refused, with an adamant shake of his head as he guided his hand to hold my chin. When he tilted my head up, I followed his gaze.
“Dragon,” I whispered.
It wasn’t Aelus, his dragon, though.
Although I’d grown up around other faes’ dragons, the marvel of them still called to me, just as the stunning thunderbirds, whose assorted colors lit up the sky whenever they flew overhead. My fascination with both creatures was one of the few things from my youth that remained wholesome.
Once Etienne was on his feet, he offered me his hand, which I took, while also keeping my attention on the dragon carrying Brenton. Or, more accurately, I kept my attention on Brenton.
Always on Brenton. Even when we’d gone years pretending the other didn’t exist, if he was in attendance, I always knew where he was. Although he wasn’t hard to find, he did such a fine job of drawing everyone’s attention. Smiling and laughing with everyone, but me.
While Brenton and the other dragons landed, I busied myself dusting my clothes of dirt that wasn’t there.
Etienne draped a heavy arm over my shoulders, and when he tugged me to him, I went willingly. In his arms, I felt cared for and protected. Try as he might, though, he couldn’t protect me from my own heart.
Almost as if guided by instinct, I lifted the sleeve of my long-sleeved shirt so I could inch my hand to my wrist, where I fiddled with my favorite bracelet. I ran a finger over the tiny, round crystals that held various dried flowers in vibrant colors.
Brenton jumped off his dragon’s back, landing with that easy, predatory grace that always made my heart skip.
When he turned to laugh at whatever his dragon said, I caught a view of his backside.
Tight, perfectly rounded, and infuriatingly distracting.
He raked a hand through his already disheveled hair, the motion flexing the sinewy muscles of his arms. I hated the way my gaze lingered longer than it should.
A flutter built deep in my belly when he turned that smile to me.
Slowly, he pulled it back, his eyes inching over my face with a careful sweep.
A storm brewed behind those perfect eyes, with the flecks of gold intensifying around the hazel orbs.
I was a captive to his gaze and unable to pull away.
When his attention fell to my hands, I brushed another gentle touch over the small crystals before I pulled away, tugging on the ends of the sleeve before I dropped my hands.
I could almost hear the tease in his voice when he’d asked me what I hid beneath the long sleeves of my fighting leathers.
I hadn’t heard that joking lilt in over a year, but the memory wasn’t too far to reach.
The way he’d held the tips of my fingers as if he were afraid to touch too much.
For a few beats, I thought he was going to kiss me.
I’d readied myself for it while my heart had scaled over my chest straight to my throat.
He’d drawn back, though, remorse clear on his features.
“You’re not mine to kiss,” he’d told me, his breathtaking eyes far too dim. “You have an intended that you love, and my only goal here is to find him so that you may continue living your life with him.”
Like so many times since I’d informed King Elias that Etienne was missing, I had found myself at a loss for how to handle Brenton’s crestfallen look.
My heart broke right along with his, and at that moment, I knew I had to find a way to break my contract with Etienne so I could finally be with Brenton.
He was my soul-bound mate, where my heart and magic both knew I was meant to be.
Except that never happened.
Later that same day, while I’d recovered, Brenton found Etienne. He carried me to him, his arms steady around me, even when my heart was anything but.
Etienne lay injured and unconscious, his skin pale and breath shallow.
All I’d wanted was to reach for him, to soothe him the way he’d done for me a thousand times before.
Brenton didn’t hesitate. He took Etienne’s limp hand and placed it over mine, the gesture so simple, so unbearably kind, it lodged in my chest.
I saw him for who he was. The selfless male who’d helped me search for Etienne, who’d found my intended, who put my well-being above his own.
His face twisted when he rested Etienne’s hand over mine, but there was the tiniest hint of joy in his eyes, as if he believed I might be happy now that my intended was back.
The memory still sat there, joy and pain twisted together until I couldn’t untangle one from the other.
Unable to hold Brenton’s gaze any longer, I turned to look up at Etienne, who watched me with just as much care.
It was different, though, born of over a hundred years of mutual understanding and looking after the other. While Etienne wasn’t my soul mate, he was my best friend. My only friend.
He was the only one who’d stayed when everyone else in my life had left, and now it was my turn to stick by him regardless of how difficult life became. Even if my heart yearned for another.
We may not have shared a romantic love, but we did love each other. That love meant something. Actually, it meant a lot more than something, at least to me.
The young human male Javier said something I didn’t quite catch, but when I felt a warm tingle across my mind, I opened myself to the magic.
Sama’s thunderous footsteps made the ground shake. When he stopped inches from me, I tilted my head up to look at him.
“Finley,” the great dragon said.
The way he said it told me all I needed to know. The dragons and their riders were here for me.
I gritted my teeth at the way my magic flared in my veins, either wanting or needing to be released. It grew inside me, uncomfortably stretching the same skin my magic had burned. I held it back, digging my nails into my palms when I fisted them.
“What can I do for you?” I asked.
I bit back my smile when I noticed Brenton’s shirt.
While I wasn’t sure who had made it, I remembered the day Teddy had presented it to him when she and Elias announced they were expecting babes.
Pride and joy had lit from inside him, but it had been more than that.
It was the look of a male who, for the first time, had a family.
One who would make sure those babes always knew they were loved and that they belonged.
I wasn’t surprised he wore the shirt boasting him as the World’s Best Uncle.
There was no doubt he was the best uncle.
“We have need of you and your magic.”
Of course, they did.