Brenna continued, pointing at me. “You’re a strong one. When I first saw your back …” She let out a long gust of breath. “You are lucky to be alive.” She patted Vetr on the shoulder. “Must have been the excellent care you received.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” came his quick reply, his icy gaze still moving in a quick crawl over me. “As you said, she is strong.”
I looked back and forth between the two of them, plucking uneasily at the fur of my blanket.
Brenna shrugged and clapped her hands. “Now. I’ll go fetch you some broth. You must recover your strength so that we can feast in your honor.”
“Inmyhonor?”
“Yes.” She blinked as though it were an obvious thing. “You’re alive. We will toast and celebrate a successful rekon.”
Successful? I’d nearly died. I lost six weeks. I didn’t feel very victorious.
I watched her leave the infirmary. Then, as I had no other choice, I turned my attention back to Vetr. “I don’t require a feast in my honor.”
“You will have one,” he said quietly, but in a tone that brooked no argument.
I shook my head. “After everything, that does not seem appropriate.”
He angled his head, frowning. “Why not?”
I exhaled. “I should never have been taken, as you pointed out.” My throat thickened with the admission of this error. “Save yourself. Save the species. Leave no witnesses,” I quoted. “That is what you drill into us in training.” My lips twisted. “I should have it knitted on a pillow.”
His frown deepened into a scowl. “And that is what you did.”
I looked down, plucking more quickly at the fur of my blanket. “You were right. I should have dispatched those soldiers when they took me from Porthavn.” I’d been lost to a deep sleep, but I remembered that. I remembered his anger that I had not.
“Give yourself some credit. You managed to get out of the Terror’s camp without giving anything away about dragonkind. You controlled your blood.” He cut me a meaningful look. “Something you could never do with any level of success before, but when it mattered, when it counted … you did it.”
“And almost got myself killed,” I pointed out, as though I had to cast a shadow over my actions in some way, uncomfortable with his praise, uncomfortable with the idea that he might … approve of me. Which was ridiculous. Before the rekon, I’d been struggling with his constant disapproval. Now that I seemed to have his approval, I struggled with that, too. What did I want from him?
“Almostdoesn’t count.” He reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. My heart gave a little squeeze of its own at the tender gesture. Tenderness was not something I’d ever expected from him.
“You’re here. You’re alive.” His gaze flicked over my features.
“And you have more mettle … more courage in you than I ever—” He broke off, as though gathering courage of his own to add, “I see now what my brother saw in you.”
It was a blessing.Hisblessing. And I’d never known I craved it until this moment.
I couldn’t breathe. My breath was trapped. I tore my gaze from his painfully beautiful face—unable to even look at him. It was too confusing. Him. His words. My feelings.
His boots scraped against the floor as he adjusted his weight. “I think you should remain in here another night or two before returning to your own den.”
I nodded, still not looking at him.
“I’ll remain, as well—”
The heat in me flickered. “That’s not necessary.”
“It will save Brenna the trouble of getting up during the night to check on you. She has her hands full with her young one, too, these days.”
“Oh.” I moistened my lips. How could I have forgotten Brenna had a child? The first and only offspring to be born in the pride. A whole new generation. There were plenty of those willing and eager to look after the child while Brenna and her mate attended to their duties, but she doubtless preferred spending her nights with her family. “I don’t think I will need checking on in the middle of the night.”
He held my gaze, his expression enigmatic. “Just so. I will stay with you.”
I opened my mouth to further protest, but the determined set to his jaw made me rethink that. Why argue? What did it matter? He’d been here for the last six weeks, and, anyway, we would just be sleeping.
“Very well.”
