Though the sleepy haze was clearing, her mind was far from empty. The restless feeling was back, the call of the last plant and its need for her magic to complete its life cycle. The thought made a hum of magic dance across her fingertips.
More awake now, she remembered that she wasn’t alone.
“Nev?” she said, goggling at him. A soft smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but tension remained. Quiet hope and apprehension in equal measure cast a shadow on his face.
The old guilt rose up again in Eunny’s gut, doubt restraining her newfound resolve as some of his hesitation rubbed off on her. “Where— When…”
She’d fallen asleep in the back room. Dae was stirring from where she’d slept, similarly hunched over in her seat at the table. Ezzyn was gone.
“A little while ago. Ezzyn filled me in,” Ollas said, handing Dae a mug of tea. “We thought it best to give you another hour.”
“Before?” Eunny rubbed her eyes, mind clicking along a beat behind. “Why are we awake at this godsforsaken?—”
Almost dawn. The windrunner schedule from Renstown across the lake would have the early ones in around daybreak. Bioon was coming.
Her eyes met with Ollas. “Oh, shit. I’ve— We’ve got to go.” She looked at Dae. “The cutting.”
Dae blinked a few times, then sat bolt upright. “I’ll find Zhenya.” She stumbled from the room.
Eunny moved to follow, then stopped. Ollas was right next to her, so close she could feel the tension as he held himself back.
“Nev,” she whispered. “I— I’m so shit at this. I’m sorry.” Godsdamned motherfuck. Eunny knew that she had flaws, that serious relationships might as well be foreign concepts to her. She knew they’d have plenty of “couple” things to work out. Most of all, though, Eunny knew she was done being a chickenshit about how much she wanted Ollas.
Eunny’s shoulders jerked with a weak laugh as she gave him a small, nervous smile. “I’m sorry, and I know there should be more and we should have an actual conversation like grown adults and be, you know, responsible or something?—”
Ollas gently cupped her face, relief making his voice crack as he murmured, “It’s okay.”
“It’s not!” Eunny insisted. “But the proper make-up will have to wait till later, because I have to go possibly commit some crime and stop my mother.”
“Ezzyn mentioned that.” Ollas rested his forehead against hers. “I’m here. Whatever you need, I’m here.”
“What about your job? This will probably go against your contract with Sylveren?—”
“Eunny.” Ollas silenced her with a kiss. “I made my choice.”
Her lips reached for him again even as she tried to protest. “But?—”
“It’s who I am.” He stepped back, holding on only to the tips of her fingers. He offered a smile, but it was a wistful one. Sportsmanlike, admitting defeat with grace. “I choose you. I love you, Eunny, and I’d choose you over a job every time.”
“Ollas.”
He shook his head. “Don’t. You don’t have to say anything, Not now, never, if you don’t want to. Just know that’s how I feel. Always have.”
Gods all break. It was too early for her to be feeling so many things and have so many important decisions to make when she didn’t have the time or brain power to process any of them to the fullest.
For some things, she had to go on instinct.
Eunny slid her hand forward so that it firmly held his, lacing her fingers through his own.
“You know, if people are going to call you a hero”—she smoothed the frown lines from his brow—“we might as well make the most of it. I don’t need rescuing, but I could use your help. Will you keep me safe, Ollas?”
Eunny saw a new smile light his face—beaming, one might call it—for only a second before his mouth was on hers again. A tremble ran through him, relief and delight and echoes of the hunger she remembered from their first kiss the night she’d moved into her own place. He wanted her, of that there was no doubt. And, for the first time, Eunny let herself bask in the realization without a hint of shame. She let her fingers slide through his curls and hold him close because he was hers.
“What do you need?” he murmured against her lips.
“What did you do with the last cutting?”
“It’s in Trunk. I wasn’t sure what— If you were coming back.” He grimaced. “I figured the thieves already thought they got everything and wouldn’t come back, but I stashed it in the rear antechamber.”
