“No, I can’t hand this in, that’s—”
“Don’t you have all that Requital induction stuff to get through as well?”
“I do, but—”
“Look, you already know everything I put into that report. You’ve been dealing with it all up close with everything that’s happened recently.”
“Win, thank you. Seriously.”
“Anytime, fireball.” He gestured across the room in the direction of the basement where Evira and Vax were sparring in the specially reinforced area that Vax had made for that specific purpose. Yeah, they were getting all that tension out of their system. Well, trying to. “Better put it away before they come up for a breather. Especially Vax.”
“Win… it’s… this sort of thing is… it’s new for you.”
He tensed. “You think it’s cheating?”
“I’m just saying—”
“Bending the rules is survival 101. I get that now.” He ground his jaw. “If I’d gotten it sooner, a lot of this would never have happened.” His gaze hardened. “I won’t let that fear get in the way again.” And then he was smiling out at me, eyes not only no longer hardening, but… sparkling? “Don’t worry, Z. You’ll all be safe from now on. Even with the extra trouble being with me brings to you all.”
“You… what?”
“I’m saying I’ve got you.” He blew me a kiss, then went to settle back into his work, flipping some pages of his grimoire for hisGrimoire Creationclass. “Love you. So much.”
Okay, I was done with this walking-on-eggshells thing.
I sat forward on the couch. “First, you don’t bring extra trouble. Hello? Chaotic Ifrit here with a massive penchant for getting into trouble. Vax almost causing a whole civil war—and not just because of stuff connected to you—and doing some dark, shadowy shit all over the place. Evira being a dragon warriorwho gives systems and rules the middle finger, and her also basically becoming an inter-realm fucking power broker. I think we allbring the trouble, Win. Even without you factored in at all.”
“Huh. That’s… all true.”
“Yes. Without a doubt, it is.” I wrung my hands, trying to conceal my unease with the other thing he’d said. “Your talk about being willing to break rules now… wanna elaborate on that?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not talking about anything crazy. I’m just no longer going to toe the line, like I used to. If protecting us, doing what’s needed for those I love, involves crossing a line here or there, I’ll do it.”
“You mean just in the sense of you hardening a little?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh.” I shifted my weight on the couch. “So, what about this hypothetical scenario? The Light Fae Realm tries to attack again, sends agents here. They’re definitely threats. So technically, if you’re about not toeing the line, you deal with them yourself and don’t call it into the Guardian Movement because that would take it out of your control. So with all that shit being how I said… you tear into them, right? Punish and torture first to send a message back to the Light Fae Realm to put them off ever coming at us again? Then, of course, being immediate threats right there on our turf, you then also kill them, yeah?”
He choked at my words, looking sick to his stomach.
Thank fuck.
“No!” he yelled adamantly. “I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t do that. Not that. I’d just stop them without worrying about unleashing too much power. Incapacitate as efficiently as possible. Then call in Ryker. He’s already been involved with the real life situation of that.”
I grinned.
“What?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.
“You don’t see it?”
“What’s that?”
“Ruxnoth didn’t alter you or taint you, Win.” I smiled. “You’re still that sweet, gentle guy, just with a harder outer shell. But that hardening isn’t him forcing that or making you that way, it’s a reactionyoudeveloped as a form of evolution to survive all of that.”
I saw him taking my words in, seeming to really hear them.
But then he started shaking his head. “Z, you were there… I wanted to kill him. Really wanted to.”
