She couldn’t blame him. She would probably have nightmares for months after this. But something else gnawed at her. His silence. His tension. The way he kept rubbing his chest over his heart, as if something inside him hurt.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
He didn’t look at her. “How can you ask me that when you have been attacked over and over, then abducted and tied up?”
“I’m here,” she said gently. “A little bruised, but alive. And still fighting.”
“You shouldn’t have to fight,” he snapped. “You should be cared for, protected, given whatever you desire without bruises.”
His anger wasn’t directed at her—but it still hit her like a slap. She stopped walking, forcing him to stop too.
“Life isn’t easy for anyone,” she said, heat rising in her voice. “There’s pain and disappointment. But the point is to keep going despite whatever is thrown at you.”
He turned toward her slowly.
The look in his eyes—haunted, hollow, full of guilt—made her chest ache.
“I failed you,” he whispered.
“What?”
“I failed you like I failed my father. I failed my people. I failed.”
Her heart cracked. She reached up and touched his cheek, forcing him to meet her gaze.
“You’ve trusted me,” she said softly. “You listened when I had ideas. You kept me warm. You saved me from the toxins. You risked your life to protect me from the ice beasts. You kept me going on that bridge when I could barely stand. You did not fail me.”
“Anyone would have done those things,” he muttered.
She shook her head. “Would you have fought to protect anyone else the way you did for me?”
His silence was answer enough.
“No,” he said finally.
“Because you care for me. Right?”
He hesitated. She knew she was pushing him at the worst possible moment—right before another challenge—but she needed to know. Needed to hear it.
“Yes,” he said quietly.
Warmth spread through her chest. She leaned against him, letting her forehead rest against his chest. “I feel the same for you. I know it complicates things, but I can’t help how I feel.”
His voice was barely a whisper. “How do you feel?”
She looked up at him. “I’m falling in love with you. I know it’s fast. But it’s true.”
He cupped her face and kissed her softly—slow, reverent, full of emotion he didn’t know how to express with words.
“I feel the same,” he murmured.
Relief and joy surged through her, bright and fierce.
“Then let’s go beat Blaine’s ass and win this thing so we can get the hell off this ice-cicle planet.”
Vaelor actually laughed—a deep, warm sound that eased some of the tension in his shoulders. “Agreed.”
She kissed him again—longer, deeper—before they resumed walking.
