She murmured to herself, almost too quietly to hear, but my shadows listened for me. “Just do it. Don’t be a pansy. Just. Do. It,” she chanted under her breath.
I crossed my arms over my chest.
It took a while, but she eventually moved again.
She left the safety of the trees in five quick strides.
And she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw me.
“Shade! Gods!” she hissed. She slapped a hand over her chest and sucked in a quivering breath.
“Ginger.” My cheek lifted in the smallest of smiles.
“I was just—I—” She struggled for words.
I waited.
The faun heaved out a massive breath. “I came to see you—to see if you were still here.”
I had expected an excuse, and her honest answer pleasantly surprised me “Oh?”
Her hands twisted nervously in front of her. “I wanted to thank you. For earlier.”
Her gaze snagged mine and held.
I nodded once. “It was nothing.”
She stepped closer. “No, it was notnothing. You put yourself at risk. For m—” She cleared her throat. “For Brambleby.”
For me, she was going to say. “I wasn’t at risk.”
“Oh? I’ve seen you bleed. You’re not made of stone.”
“Are you calling me weak?” I tilted my head curiously.
She rolled her eyes, her natural stubbornness breaking through her nerves. “No. Obviously not. But are you immortal?”
“I… I do not know.”
“Exactly,” she said. “You could have risked your life. And for that, I want you to know how grateful I am.”
Pride swelled in my chest, so swiftly I feared I might burst. “I would do anything for you,” I said quietly.
She swallowed. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
She turned to leave.
Mentally, I begged her to stay. I wrapped a loose tendril of shadow around her antlers, letting it settle onto her shoulder.
Miraculously, she lingered.
And then she turned. “Shade?” she asked.
“Yes?”
She straightened her shoulders.
And then she threw her arms around my neck and yanked me down.
