“Not now. You’re running on empty and you need to be fully functional when you see Talis again. Because something tells me you’ll only get one more chance at this and you need to do it right.”
I was getting sick of him making sense all the time.
That wasmything. I’d been the one living here for the last five and a half years, the one who’d learnt to adapt to my surroundings and temper my fae bluntness and rule-following into a more easy-going approach to life.
“The old Dathal would never have said that to me,” I grumbled, but let him steer me towards the stairs.
He snorted. “He wouldn’t have abandoned the fae guard to join with a witch, either. So thank fuck I’m not him anymore.”
As usual, a mixture of jealousy and longing hit me at the reminder of Dathal’s chosen soulmate asleep in the guest room.
But this time there was a small kernel of hope mixed in with it.
Maybe there was still a chance I could have that too.
* * *
I manageda good few hours of sleep before Dathal woke me with a cup of coffee and a slice of toast. He’d got quite adept at making coffee that didn’t taste likeprehl,thank the Goddess.
“Breakfast in bed?” I eyed him warily. “What have you done?”
He huffed. “I haven’t done anything. I was making Nick breakfast before he left, so I thought I’d make you some too. Also Max just called to say Rys and Gabriel are on their way over, so you should probably get up and dressed.”
I yawned, jaw cracking, and groaned when I glanced at the time on my phone. Four hours sleep didn’t make up for missing a whole night of it. “Why are they coming here?” It wasn’t uncommon for Rys to drop in unannounced. He liked to check in with those of us who weren’t officially members of his pack, yet still took sanctuary in his territory. But he didn’t normally bring Gabriel with him.
Dathal frowned. “I imagine it has to do with all the howling last night—well, this morning.”
Fuck.
I shot up in bed as everything came flooding back to me.
“Hey.” Dathal put a hand on my chest, easing me back against the pillows behind me. “Easy.”
“I need to go find Talis.” I tried to get up, but Dathal stopped me again. “What?”
“I think you should wait and see what Rys has to say first.”
“If it was anything urgent, then surely they’d have been here before now.” I shoved his hand out of the way and shuffled to sit beside him on the edge of the bed. The toast sat next to me, looking way too tempting, so I snatched up a piece and took a huge bite. Waving the rest of it at Dathal, I asked, “Didn’t Max mention anything?”
He muttered something under his breath, and I rolled my eyes.
“Fine,” Dathal huffed. “He said there was no cause for alarm yet. But he’d let Rys fill us in on what happened.”
“So I’m not in any immediate danger?”
“No.”
I’m still worried though.Dathal’s thoughts slipped into my mind, and I struggled not to react. I doubted he’d be all that keen for me to know that, considering he was doing an impressive job of appearing unconcerned now.
I relented. “I suppose it won’t hurt to wait.” I hoped so anyway.
The thought of Talis out there somewhere thinking that I didn’t trust him enough, that I’d never be able to, left an unsettled feeling inside me that wouldn’t go away until I could talk to him and hoped he’d listen.
Dathal’s shoulders relaxed, and I knew I was doing the right thing, at least where he was concerned, anyway. “Eat your breakfast and come down. They’ll be here soon.”
* * *
“Rys, Gabriel.”I stepped back from the door and ushered them inside. No one else was with them, but I couldn’t resist a quick glance around before closing the door.
