“But maybe someday,” I add.
That flicker changes.
Hope, raw and unarmored.
He exhales slowly, then nods once. “I can live with that.”
I smile faintly. “Good.”
He pulls me a little closer, his arm firm around my shoulders. The world narrows to the warmth of his body, the steady rise and fall of his chest, the knowledge that for this moment at least, we’re not being pulled in opposite directions.
“We’re not there yet,” I say quietly.
“No,” he agrees. “But we’re on the road.”
I rest my head against his shoulder.
The courthouse looms behind us, heavy with judgment and consequence. The city stretches out ahead, messy and alive and full of unknowns.
For the first time in a long time, that doesn’t terrify me.
It feels like a beginning.
CHAPTER 27
SABLE
Months pass the way weather does—slow until you notice everything’s different.
My center of gravity migrates south. My patience evaporates. My ankles swell like they’re personally offended by gravity. I am very pregnant, very tired, and deeply suspicious of anyone who says the wordglowin my presence.
Voltar says it a lot.
“You’re glowing,” he tells me one morning while I’m trying to wrestle my boots on without dislocating a hip.
“I am sweating,” I correct. “There is a difference.”
He crouches in front of me anyway, massive frame folding with surprising grace, and takes the boot out of my hands. “Let me.”
“I can do it.”
“I know,” he says mildly. “I just like helping.”
He slides the boot on carefully, like he’s handling something fragile, and my irritation softens despite myself. Damn him.
“There,” he says, tugging the laces snug. “Warrior ready.”
I glare at him. “Do not call this a warrior stance. I look like a penguin who lost a bet.”
“You look powerful,” he counters.
“I look round.”
“Round can be powerful.”
I snort. “You are not winning this argument.”
He grins like he’s already won something else.
