"He helped one of the families near the border yesterday morning," Bree explains, and I can hear the soft pleasure in her voice. "Stayed behind after the walk. I told him it was okay."
Of course she did.
I shake his hand, grip firm enough to make a point. "Of course it's okay. She's the queen of the glowing forest now. You need a crown? We can probably whip one up out of moonbeams."
Seth grins, and it's annoyingly genuine. "You must be one of hers."
The words hits somewhere inside me I didn't know existed.
One of hers.
He's not wrong. But hearing it said out loud, so casually, makes something in me twist with heat.
I liked it better before it meant competition.
Bree doesn't notice the tension. She's too busy asking Seth how his morning went, if he needs anything. When he says he's fine, she smiles—not the ethereal, magic-touched smile she gives the crowds, but the real one. The shy one she gave me once when I bandaged her ankle last fall.
And it's not mine this time.
We leave Seth with the family and continue our rounds, but something's shifted. I've gone quiet, and for once, I can't find a joke to fill the silence.
Bree glances at me after a few minutes. "You okay?"
I try to brush it off, make some crack about Seth needing a haircut. But the words feel hollow even as I say them.
Because the truth is, I didn't think it would feel like this. Watching her look at someone else the way she looked at him. Not when she's still looking at all of us too.
I wasn't ready for him or anyone else to matter. Not to her. Not like this.
"Jace?" She's stopped walking, concern clear in her green eyes.
"I'm fine, sweetheart," I say, but even I can hear how thin it sounds.
She studies my face for a moment, then calls something over her shoulder about checking on the family by the creek. I watch the curve of her spine as she walks ahead, the sway of her hair catching sunlight.
I don't follow right away.
Because standing here, watching her move through the world like she belongs in it, I'm realizing something I should have figured out weeks ago.
If I want to be someone she chooses—really chooses, not just tolerates or finds amusing—I've got to stop pretending I don't care if she doesn't.
I've got to stop hiding behind jokes and sharp grins and casual indifference.
I've got to let it matter.
Finally, I start walking again, catching up to her easy stride. But something in me has shifted, settled into a new shape.
I'm not sure if that scares me or excites me more. I guess we'll find out.
Chapter 41
Thane
I've been pacing this hallway for twenty minutes.
Waiting. Like some lovesick fool instead of a centuries-old vampire with better things to do than track the movements of one untrained Source.
It's been three days since the Council summons, since I was yanked away from her when everything started shifting. Three days of watching her slip out each morning to tend to the camps, and three days of feeling her absence like a missing tooth I can't stop probing with my tongue.
