Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
brENTON
I set the plate of food carefully on the grass, every movement slow when all I wanted was to bolt after Finley. Rising just as slowly, I felt Elias’s hand circle my arm.
I shook him off with a sharp jerk, my glare cutting through Everly before I turned and ran after my mate.
I caught her scent before I reached her. Salt. Tears. My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning everything else out.
I didn’t think, didn’t slow down. I pulled her against me the moment she was within reach. My arms wrapped around her as if I could shield her from whatever had hurt her.
She didn’t resist, but pressed her face against my throat, burrowing in as if she wanted to disappear inside me. A low rumble built in my chest. Half growl, half vow. No one would ever make her cry again.
Just as quickly as she’d melted into me, she shoved against my chest. Not hard but it caught me off guard, and I stumbled back a step.
“How could you?” The words cracked from her like thunder.
“Everly won’t disrespect you again,” I swore, my canines lengthening at the thought of my friend hurting my mate.
“Everly?” Her voice snapped like a whip. She rubbed her hands roughly over her face, smearing tears that still fell. “You think I’m crying because of her?”
My stomach dropped. “I—”
“I care little what your friend thinks of me.” Her eyes blazed, anger and hurt coiling behind them in white swirls. “It’s you who hurt me.”
The world tilted. “Me?” My voice trembled as I staggered while horror and disbelief twisted inside me. “What did I do, Lolli?”
She dipped her head, shaking it without meeting my eyes.
I fisted my hands, willing myself to remain calm, but being the cause of her pain was a torment unlike any I’d ever suffered.
“Lolli,” I begged, reaching for her hand. She pulled back, and my hand dropped uselessly at my side. “Tell me what I did wrong. Please.” I dragged a hand through my hair, my fingers biting into my scalp as panic spiraled inside me. “I don’t know what I did. How can I fix it if I don’t know?”
Because this. Us. It couldn’t already be over. Not when we’d just begun.
She fidgeted with the hem of my shirt, but she wouldn’t grant me the mercy of looking at me.
I stepped closer, not too fast, so it remained her choice if she needed her space.
“If this is about what Everly said—”
“This isn’t about Everly.” Her gaze snapped up. “It’s about what you said.”
The accusation knocked the wind from my lungs.
I desperately searched her face. “What did I say? Tell me, Lolli. Please. I can’t stand here and watch you bleed over my words and not even know what I said to hurt you.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, her shoulders curling forward. “You said—you spoke about us as if we were temporary. How could you do that, Brenton? I tell you how I feel about you, how I can’t live another beat without you, and you act as if letting me go would cost you nothing.”
My hands flexed at my side, useless against the ache spreading through me as I remembered the angry words I’d tossed at Everly.
“If things between Finley and me don’t work out, I won’t turn to you.”
I’d said them with only one goal in mind: to get Everly to back off from Finley.
Finley couldn’t possibly believe I thought we might be temporary. That losing her would cost me nothing.
“Lolli.” My throat was raw with emotions, my voice nothing but gravel.
“You don’t understand. I—” I raked a hand through my hair, my chest heaving with the weight of the words I couldn’t form fast enough.
“Every day I spent without you was a life half lived. Do you honestly think I could let you go as if you mean nothing? When you are everything.” A snarl tore through me at the shame that coiled and tightened around my chest. “I would burn down our very kingdom, shatter every realm from existence before I could let you go again. I would beg at your feet for a mercy I don’t deserve.
Now that I know you choose me . . . don’t ever mistake me for a male who could live without you. ”
Her breath trembled out of her, and for a few beats she just stared at me, her expression torn between hope and pain.
“Then why say it?” she asked. “Why utter any words about us not working out?”
“Because I needed Everly to stop.” It came out rough, the edges sharp with barely contained fury.
“She would’ve kept pressing and pressing you, and I needed to put it to a stop.
So I said something I knew would wound her, something that would shut her down.
But gods, Finley”—I cupped her cheek, gently moving her face so she looked at me—“I never believed those words. Whenever you’re in my arms, you feel like forever. ”
Her magic stirred beneath her skin, shimmering and vibrating across her hands and arms.
Her lashes lowered, and another tear slipped out.
“We’ve spent a lifetime hurting each other.
Of turning away and ignoring each other.
We’re not the same younglings from our past. For this, us, to work, we have to learn who we are now.
We have to get to know each other and build trust. I want us to work, Brent. ”
“I do too.”
She drew in a shaky breath, stepping closer to me. My heart hammered, the threads of our bond tightening inside me in anticipation. Her trembling hands rose to my chest, her eyes catching mine before she pressed her lips to mine.
It wasn’t the kiss our bond demanded, all heat and hunger. It was soft. Tentative.
And it unraveled me.
I stilled, letting her set the pace, my hands hovering over her waist before I settled them to pull her gently against me.
She was still choosing this. Choosing me.
Too soon, she pulled back, her lips parted, and breath coming out quick and uneven.
Her gaze dropped, a blush rising to her cheeks. “I need to train,” she said, her tone soft but resolute. “My magic, it’s rising inside me, and I need to be somewhere far in case . . .”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.” It came out sharp and final before her features softened. “I’ll worry I’ll hurt you and won’t be able to work my magic properly.”
Every instinct raged at me to hold her there, to drag her mouth back to mine and never let go. To go with her to train her magic. But I forced myself to let her go and give her what she needed.
“Then train,” I said, brushing my knuckles over her cheek. “I’ll be here when you finish.”
She gave me one last lingering look before she turned around and continued her trek through the forest. I stayed, watching her back grow smaller until she faded from sight. Only then did I return to Everly and Elias.
My steps thundered back to our campsite, and when I reached them, they both sat where I left them, their plates empty as if they’d been waiting.
“We need to talk.” Heat climbed up my throat despite the ice in my tone.
“I know.” Everly met my glare without flinching. “I’m sorry, Brent. You’re my friend, mo compeer, my family.”
Mo compeer. A term we used for our brothers and sisters in arms, who weren’t simply friends, but family.
“That doesn’t justify the way you’ve been treating Finley,” I snapped.
Her shoulders eased in reluctant admission. “You’re right. My reasons don’t matter. I just . . .” She sighed. “I hate how much she’s hurt you. But you’re your own male. I’ll only give my opinion if you ask for it.”
“You’ll apologize to her,” I said.
She gave a solemn nod. “I’ll apologize to her.”
That was enough. At least for now. Forgiveness didn’t come all at once, and it’d take time before Finley trusted Everly. But family wasn’t about perfection. It was about holding each other accountable, about making amends when we faltered.
And Everly was my family.
But Finley . . . Finley was more. She was my heart, the one thread I’d never been able to sever.
I’d walk away from the brothers and sisters I’d bled beside, the family I’d built after my own had abandoned me, before I ever turned away from her.
The only ones I could never leave behind were the younglings. Luana too.
But anyone else who couldn’t accept Finley? They’d lose me. And suddenly, I understood Elias and his transformation after Teddy accepted their soul-mate bond. He’d become . . . calmer. Irrational at times, yes, but now I knew that was only the madness of being loved back.
“You will do what you must to make amends,” Elias said before he turned to me. “Things are different this time. Is that right?”
“Yes.” The word scraped through my throat, a part of me still surprised at how much had changed since we left Niev a mere day ago. “She and Etienne have only ever been friends. Before we left, Etienne asked her to give us a chance.” My voice cracked. “She chooses us. She chooses me.”
Everly leaned over Elias and smacked my thigh good-naturedly. Her eyes searched mine. Then a smile tugged on her lips.
“So she’s finally stopped fighting what was written in the stars since the day you were born,” she said, her tone softer than I expected. “Took her long enough to see you for the valiant—and annoyingly funny—male you are. For the fierce and tender male you’ve always been.”
Her words settled in my chest.
Elias kept his expression open and earnest. “You’ve waited over a hundred years for this, Brent. And you never once stopped choosing her, even when it cost you.” His hand clapped my shoulder. “I can’t believe this is all happening without Teddy present.”
“Vith, my sister is going to kill me.”
Everly huffed out a laugh. “Shall I light a candle for you?”
“No.” I tapped a finger on my bouncing knee, my lips twitching at the sides. “But if you can find lollipops somewhere on this island, I’ll be forever indebted to you.”
“Lollipops?” Everly said. “You hate lollipops.”
“Not anymore.” Not when I had my Lolli back at my side.
Elias grinned. “This is why Teddy will forgive you. Once she sees how happy you are, she’ll be just as happy for you.”
I dragged a hand over my face and groaned. “She’s going to demand to know why we didn’t do this back in Niev, where she could torment me with questions and hypotheticals.”
“She’ll demand you give her all the details.” Elias nodded. “You should keep a journal so you don’t leave anything out.”
I muttered a curse, secretly delighted to fill Teddy in on everything. Keeping a journal wasn’t a terrible idea. I could also record the list Finley had made of all the things she wanted to do and looked forward to.
If she let me, I’d be the one beside her as she crossed out each and every item.
“Why don’t you and Finley take the day off?” Elias asked. “Yesterday was rough for her. Some rest will do her well.”
I ran a hand over my chin, considering. “What about the dragons? We came here to help them, not step away.”
“I’ll be meeting with Kassidy,” he said. “We’ll come up with a plan that doesn’t hurt Finley the way her magic harmed her yesterday. No one is asking her to push again today.”
“I command it,” Hoshiko said through our mental connection.
I breathed in his words. Helping them couldn’t mean burning Finley out until nothing remained.
Truth be told, I’d love a day of doing absolutely nothing with her. The problem was that Finley wasn’t one to sit idly by.
“I’ll see if I can convince her when I apologize,” Everly said.
I glanced at Everly. “You can hear my thoughts now?”
“No,” she said dryly. “I know warriors. Tell one to rest, and their brain starts to melt.”
I hid my grin behind my palm and wondered if a day with me made it on her list.