A chuckle was his only response.
The moment I cleared the tent I found Tarrin and Kaelun standing guard, which meant they’d heard our entire conversation. “A little warning would’ve been nice,” I grumbled.
“You should be thanking me,” Artton called from the other side of the camp, collecting our supplies. “Now you don’t have to have the same conversation again.”
“How magnanimous of you,” I drawled.
All humor left as I faced my two sentries. “I’ll leave you two,” Kaelun said, then went to move.
“No. Stay,” I said. “This involves all of us. Besides, if I can be cruel to someone in front of others, I should take responsibility in front of them too.”
Kaelun looked like he’d rather be anywhere else but stayed.
Tarrin’s teak eyes held so much regret and sorrow that my heart hurt for both of us. “Did you know that I laid on top of you to protect you as we straddled the Autumn and Summer borders?” I said.
He shook his head slowly, brows pulling together.
“It was the only option. You were freezing from blood loss and shock, but you were also severely dehydrated. I couldn’t risk keeping you in the Summer Court at high noon, and any shade was too far away. So, I forced the borders open, and pulled your upper body through to where it was raining in Autumn. I laid on top of you to shield you from the elements, put pressure on your wounds, and kept the borders from crushing us. Then, when help finally came, I begged them to save you. It was your brother, actually”—I shifted my focus to Kaelun—"who told Caius thatIneeded Tarrin to live. That I couldn’t survive another loss." The summer fae nodded as if he’d heard this story already. “I say this, Tarrin,” I said, returning my focus to him, “because those are not the actions of someone who would ever regret saving you.”
Tarrin looked into the depth of my soul for long seconds before he broke the mounting silence. “I don’t deserve you in my life. You know that, right?”
I raised my palms to the sky and let them drop. “And I’m not worthy of the spark, but here we are. It doesn’t matter what wethinkwe’re worth or deserve—we lost the right to those thoughts the moment the fates tied us to this mess. There are enough forces against us as it is. All that matters now is that we move forward, together. And that means having each other’s backs; regardless of histories.”
“I understand,” Tarrin said. “And thank you, Ny.”
I nodded, then threw a pointed look over my shoulder at Artton, who threw a thumb up as he was leaning down repacking our bags, indicating he was onboard as well.
“Does that mean we’re all good?” Kaelun asked.
I chuckled. “Yes, we’re all good.”
“Thank the gods, because honestly, I can’t handle all of this brooding. And drama,” he added.
We all laughed, then turned to take down the tent before setting off.
Chapter 41
Wavering Trust
It was well past dusk by the time Sidrick rejoined us. Evidently, Caius had not taken the news of what happened well, which meant his third-in-command took the brunt of his ire and had to convince him that,the mission was still viable—as he put it.
If the shadow that crossed Artton’s features while reading the note from his High Lord before burning it in the dying fire was any indication ofjusthow angry he’d been, then I was very,veryhappy to be outside his chain of command.
“Are we still a go?” Kaelun asked as he watched the last vestiges of Caius’ note turn to ash.
Artton’s head tilted down once in a nod, his hard gaze still fixed on the fire.
“What’s the plan then?” Tarrin asked from the other side of Kaelun.
“Same as before,” Sidrick said, “Only?—”
“Only, it’s not the fucken same,” Artton finished for him, then finally looked up at the rest of us. His attention landed on his commanding counterpart. “Has your magic recovered enough?”
“As long as the two of you don’t set her off again,” he snippedback, and it was the first time I’d ever heard Sidrick speak in a tone that was anything but calm and collected. I didn’t know what Caius had said to him, but Sidrick was clearly pissed off at how things went down. Not that I was any happier about it. Judging by the look his kid brother gave him, it wasn’t a common occurrence.
“It won’t,” Artton gritted out, then stared Tarrin down.
Throwing up his hands, he said, “Don’t look at me. I didn’t start it.”
