“The Hawks?” he asked slowly as they stumbled away.
The dark terror that only Jos and Garet had managed to fly from the burning house, that the others were lost, tore at him. He had to know.
Nim smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I should have said something, they’re on their way—”
He cut her off with a rough grunt, needing to be clear. “They’re alive?”
“Yes, everyone is fine, they’ll be here soon.”
The relief flooding through him was almost overwhelming. Thank the gods. His men—his brothers—were safe.
But there was another important point that she had missed entirely. He led her off the road and spun her to face him. “Let me understand. My squad is alive, and yet they let you go after Grendel with only two men for backup? They had one job—keep you safe.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I can keep myself safe.”
He glared back.
“They wanted me to stay back with Val,” she added softly, “but I refused. Once they had Keely and Val ready to travel, they were going to follow. This was a good plan, Tristan. The right plan.”
He wrapped his arm around her, too glad she was alive to argue. Too glad that the Hawks were alive. She was safe, she had come after him, and now they had a chance at a future.
No, he wasn’t going to argue with her.
But that didn’t mean he would accept insubordination from the Hawks. They had been given clear instructions to protect Nim. He understood she had needed to be the one to kill Grendel, but the squad needed to be damn clear that in future, their priority was keeping her safe.
They were only walking for a few minutes before hooves thudded through the woods nearby and the rest of the squad arrived, their horses kicking up dust as they pulled up beside them. They’d unearthed a rough farm cart to carry Val, and Keely sat beside him holding his hand as he groaned, only half conscious.
Tristan’s heart lifted in his chest. Just seeing the Hawks again, after being so terrified that they had all been lost, nearly overwhelmed him. But it didn’t mean they would avoid the blistering they were about to get. “What the fuck were you thinking!” His roar echoed off the trees. “Mathos, report!”
“See, Nim, I told you he wouldn’t be happy.” Mathos sounded almost cheerful.
Tristan kissed Nim gently on the forehead and then stalked up to his second-in-command, staggering slightly as his weight landed on his throbbing knee, caught between wanting to grab his friend to check that he was well, and wanting to wrap his hands around his neck and throttle him.
Before he could do either, Nim was there between them. She pressed her cool hands into his cheeks and forced him to look at her. “It’s not Mathos’s fault. I already told you that they didn’t want me going after you. I made them.”
He looked her up and down, the top of her head just touching the bottom of his chin, her body still trembling in shock, inside the too big clothes. “Youmadethem. You’re not even wearing any boots!”
She gave him a small smile as the men around them chuckled.
The beast inside him was not appeased. “Mathos needs to realize—”
“Tristan, I love you.” Nim’s smiled widened. That beautiful, glowing, smile. “Now shut up.”
And then she stood on her toes and kissed him, right there in the middle of the road, in front of all his men. And, gods help him, he couldn’t be bothered to shout at them anymore.
He threaded his fingers through her hair and kissed her back.
Epilogue
Val groanedand tried to open his eyes. Someone had their hand on his chest, and he could feel waves of warmth unfurling through his body. A twisted knot of pain somewhere deep inside him pulled tight and then unraveled, and he sighed in relief as another gnawing ache ebbed.
Slim fingers smoothed his brow, and a gentle voice shushed him.
“Nimmy?”
It didn’t make sense. She was at home. He’d kept her out of it. Hadn’t he? Was he dreaming?
Everything was blurred and distorted. Strange shapes loomed over him.
