Igaa smiles, and her fangs make it more terrifying than it is friendly. “I like your queen.”
“I do too.”
Her wings flare, and she leaps into the air. No goodbye, no parting words, nothing.
Then again, Nakiis was never one for goodbyes either.
When I turn around to head back to the forge, Jax is waiting there by the corner, leaning against the tethering post. His hair is still loose, hanging over one shoulder, shining in the sun. Even with his ribs tightly bandaged and a little beard growth coating his jaw, he’s still the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.
“How long have you been there?” I say.
“Long enough. I didn’t want to interrupt.”
I stop in front of him, my eyes flicking up and down his form. “Are you badly injured?”
“No more than usual.”
That probably shouldn’t make me laugh, but it does, and then somehow it turns into a broken sound. Jax wraps his arms around me, and for the second time in five minutes, I find myself crying against someone while they hold me.
At least Jax won’t talk about licking the tears off my cheeks.
But eventually my sorrow eases, and I rest my head against his shoulder and feel him breathe for a while. I’m still hungry, and I still have a million questions, but I don’t really care. After the last few weeks, I think I could stand here in the summer warmth with Jax for a year and be quite content.
“I’m assumingyouhaven’t been asleep for a week,” I murmur.
“No,” he says. “I’ve been watching over you.”
That makes me flush and shiver simultaneously. “So you’ve met Noah.”
“He’d be hard to miss, staying in my house.”
I smile against his shoulder.
“I like him,” he adds.
“I knew you would. Noah is wonderful.”
“And as fierce as a lion,” he says, with a hint of awe in his voice. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone stand up to the king like that—”
I lift my head. “Noah stood up to the king?”
“Yes. Why else do you think he left you here?”
My head thrums. Too much has happened, and I can’t make sense of any of this. “What did he say?”
From the doorway, Noah calls out to us. “Tycho. If you’re going to be up and around, you really should eat something.”
Jax takes my hand. “Come on. There’s a cow again, and some chickens. We have eggs.”
I stare at him. “We do?” I clear my throat and shake my head. “Jax— what happened between Noah and Grey?”
“He said you had been through too much these last few months. He said you should be allowed to heal, without feeling the pressures of the palace or the nobility.” Jax’s hazel- green eyes search mine. “And then he said you should be allowed to choose your fate.”
There was a time when this would have left me unmoored. I would have gone searching for my horse and ridden off to the Crystal Palace right this instant, because I’d be so worried I was making the wrong choice. That I was disappointing Grey.
But for the first time, my heart is steady. I don’t feel an urge to rush anywhere.
I give his hand a tug, but it makes my shoulder ache, and I wince. Jax follows me anyway.
