His expression twists like I just tasted something bad. “You’re not mated with her?”
“No.”
“But you desire her?”
My jaw tightens. “Yeah.”
“She cares for you?”
“I think so.”
Brannick leans forward, frowning like this is a complicated equation he can’t balance. “So you wish to lie with her... she might wish to lie with you... and yet you have not claimed her?”
I choke on a laugh. “Claimed? Dude, this isn’t a medieval romance novel.”
“Your ways are foolish,” he mutters. “In my realm, you do not wait to be devoured by uncertainty. You see what you want, you pursue, you take.”
“That’s not how humans work.”
“Then it is a miracle your kind bred at all before going extinct.”
I grin, shaking my head. “It’s not that simple. She’s grieving. We’ve all lost people. I don’t want to push her or screw it up.”
Brannick considers this, brow furrowed. “Still sounds like cowardice.”
“Thanks, man. Real supportive.”
“If you have lost people, then you know that every second of love is precious and can be snatched from you when you least expect it. You are brave in the ways of survival,” he says, poking at the fire with another stick, “but you hesitate in the heart’s battlefield. She is your moon? You bloom under her light?”
That stills me. “Yeah. She is.”
“Then stop orbiting,” he says simply. “Fall.”
I stare at him for a long beat. “That was actually kind of poetic.”
“I am full of poetry. And wisdom. And salted jerky,” he adds, grabbing another bag of the jerky he has refused to stop eating since we left the store.
I laugh and toss him a warm water bottle. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
He tips his head. “And you, Stoneheart, are a fool in love. But that is curable.”
“How?”
He grins as he answers. “Have courage. And maybe a well-timed grope.”
“You are not helping.”
He shrugs and reclines again. “Perhaps not. But she is already yours. Even a blind demon hare could smell it on you.”
I snort. “Still with the jackrabbit paranoia?”
He nods gravely. “They are fast, cunning, and too quiet. Demon spawn, I tell you.”
We fall into easy silence again, firelight flickering between us, and even with all the chaos and unknowns ahead, I feel a little lighter. Because somewhere out there, Luna is alive. And now I’ve decided… no more orbiting.
Time to fall.
Chapter 50 - Julian
