We didn’t talk about what happened. I wouldn’t ask. He’d talk if and when he was ready. I was just glad he was up and looking healthy and happy once again. When he lifted his head from my shoulder and turned to me, I turned and kissed him softly. That led to a very long time of kissing and caressing.
He pulled back and we paused in our enjoyment of each other. “How… are you feeling?” he asked softly. “I… I’ve only heard what happened, but some of what I heard…” he trailed off. He looked down and withdrew his hand from under my blouse, becoming somber. “I’m glad you killed her.” His voice was hard.
I pulled him close and held him for a long moment as his temper turned to tears and he wept. “I felt so helpless!” he sobbed. “And… I… I began to doubt you’d come. I didn’t want to, but… it felt like I’d been there for ages, in the dark.”
“I’m here now,” I said. “And I’ll never let you go again, if that’s what you want.”
He gave a sobbing laugh. “That might make it hard for me to be king.”
“I’m sure your people wouldn’t mind you sitting on my lap as I held you all through your audiences with foreign nobles and royalty.”
He nearly choked on his laughter and tears. “That would be a sight.” He drew in a long breath and pulled back. “But… I’ll need to stand on my own, Legs.” He sniffed a laugh. I joined him. Sometimes my name was just a bit… confusing. He tried again. “I’ll need to stand on my own legs… Legs. And I’ll never give you up.”
I didn’t know how it was going to work between us, but I was very happy he’d said that. I added, “With Fin around, I’ll never be that far away.”
He nodded.
Something in his beryl-blue eyes shifted then, his expression intense and heated. “Take off your clothes, before I tear them off,” he said suddenly impassioned.
I did as instructed and found out he was recovered enough to pleasure me repeatedly that morning.
As such I was just a little giddy when I slipped into the next room, which belonged to Sparrow.
From what I’d heard, that last attack from Merlin, crushing her avatar, had nearly killed Sparrow. Ant had brought her back from the brink of death, but he’d not mended each and every of her shattered bones. She was still on the mend, wrapped in heavy bandages.
She smiled when she saw me.
“How are you?” she asked, as if I were the one still in casts and slings.
“I’m doing well enough. How are you?” I moved around the bed, standing next to it. She sat propped up by many pillows and I reached out to stroke her soft, brown hair.
Despite the pain she must have been feeling she smiled, a bright and cheery thing. “I’m doing a lot better now that you’re here.” The smile faded a little. “There’s still a lot of pain and it’s hard to sleep. A healer, one with a spirit-gift, but not as strong as Ant’s, took a look at my left foot. She said it may never heal properly. She did what she could, but…” Her smile returned and she shrugged. “We’ll see.”
I couldn’t understand how she was so lighthearted about all this.
“I’m so sorry I… I asked you to…” I couldn’t quite finish.
Oddly Sparrow only smiled broader. “No, Legs, never apologize, not for that. My body may be broken, but my spirit has never felt better.”
I cocked my head to one side, curious what she meant by that, as I came to sit on the side of the bed next to her.
Her one arm seemed well enough that she reached out to me and I took her hand in both of mine. “Legs, I… I was always so terrified to fight, terrified of… of being hurt… like this.” I opened my mouth to say another apology, but she went on quickly. “And when you asked me to help you… I was so very frightened.” Her smile seemed to brighten even more. “But I did it, Legs. I fought against a mistweaver. I distracted her long enough for you and Ahmaia to finish her.Idid that!”
“And it—”
“And it was glorious,” she cut me off. “I’ve never felt so alive and brave and… and…” She sighed, her smile fading only a little. “And now I know the pain is worth it.”
“It was worth it for this?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes, Legs. Don’t you see? I lived! True, I only lived because Ant was around and he can’t heal anymore, but still… I lived and yes, I’m in pain, but most of this will heal. I may limp or ache a little on stormy days, but now I understand what you and the others feel, what you go through, when you throw yourselves into battle. You know you’re doing it because it must be done, because the nation needs it, or your friends need it. And… I knew that before, in my head, but I never really understood it, never… felt it. I do now.”
I was a bit dumbfounded. “So, you’ll be throwing yourself into battle from now on?”
She quirked a grin. “Once I’m healed, if I’m needed, I guess I will.”
I shook my head. “Most people in your place would feel the exact opposite, I’m sure.”
“Well, yes, the pain is bad, but knowing that I’m in pain because I helped the ones I loved, and saved my nation… that… makes it worth it.”
