“But if you’re beside me…” His mouth quirked, just enough to tease. “Maybe, I’d actually want to find out.”
His hand lifted almost absently, fingers brushing a stray lock of hair from my face. The faintest smirk tugged at his lips.
I caressed his cheek, and he leaned into it again, enjoying it.
“But let’s focus on the task ahead,” he said calmly.
“You’ll help me?” I asked, barely more than a whisper.
His grin returned, sharp and sure. “Sweetie, I’d burn the world down if you asked me to.”
A startled laugh escaped me, even as my heart twisted at the truth in his words.
“Let’s not burn it down,” I said with a faint smile, pressing my forehead against his. “Let’s try to fix it instead.”
His chuckle rumbled through his chest as he kissed me softly, reverently.
“Then we’ll fix it,” he said. “But first, we should probably get out of this lake, before the others come looking for us.”
I sighed, reluctant to move, but he was right. As he helped me out of the water and back to the shore, I realised that for the first time in a long while, the future didn’t feel quite so impossible.
By the time we made it back to camp, the fires had burned low, and most of the wounded were either asleep or quietly resting. The air still smelled of blood and healing herbs, but the worst of the chaos had settled.
Of course, that didn’t mean we were safe from theotherkind of chaos.
Ashley was the first to spot us. She was crouched near one of the fires, polishing what was probably her fifteenth blade of the night, tasking herself with sharpening every mage’s dagger in the camp, for fear that anyone else might do it wrong.
When she saw me, her eyes narrowed, not suspiciously, but in the way a cat narrows its eyes when it smells something interesting.
“Well, well,” she hummed, leaning back on her heels. “Look who finally crawled back.”
I felt my face heat, but before I could respond, Malakai casually dropped down against a tree close to where she was seated, stretching out his long legs like he owned the place.
“No crawling involved,” he said smoothly, his blank face making it even worse, as my blush spread.
“Malakai!” I hissed, smacking his shoulder.
He caught my wrist with infuriating ease and pressed a kiss to my knuckles, smug as ever. “What? You told me you didn’t want to hide anymore.”
Ashley’s grin turned feral. “Oh,thisis going to be fun.”
“Fun?” Nate scoffed from across the fire, his usual grin firmly in place. “Is that what we’re calling sneaking off fora moment now? Because if so, I’ve been havingloadsof fun whenever I go to take a piss.”
I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “You’re impossible.”
“Impossible to ignore,” Nate said proudly, earning himself a withering look from Mey, who was playing with water from a pouch, making it swirl between her fingers.
“Gods, Nate,” she said, rolling her eyes. “If you’re jealous, just say so.”
Nate choked, nearly dropping the piece of bread he’d been chewing on.
“Jealous?! Ofhim?” He pointed at Malakai, who raised a brow, clearly entertained.
Ashley snorted. “Please, Nate would rather choke on his own bad jokes than admit he has feelings for anyone.”
“I don’t have feelings for anyone!” Nate said quickly. “Not those kinds of feelings.”
Mey smirked, far too pleased with herself. “Mhm, that’s why you were glued to Ashley’s side earlier? Making sure she didn’t trip over every root because she can’t see a damned thing in the dark? And what about when you tackled her out of the way during the ambush? I’m sure that was a coincidence, too.”
