Tension crept through the air, fragile but unmistakable.
Alastor’s shadows stirred, and he folded his hands in his lap. “No one is safe until she’s back in the astral realm.”
Quiet stretched between us until a sharp snap echoed across the field.
Hoshiko lunged forward, snapping his jaws near Nalari’s wingtip as she deliberately flicked it into his space again. She huffed smoke in response.
“Hoshiko said he’ll train her too.” Brenton peered over his shoulder at Hoshiko, who snarled at Nalari’s bared teeth. “Nalari objects.”
“I swear those two are in love,” Teddy said, voice light again although worry still shimmered in her eyes.
“What do you mean?” Brenton huffed and crossed his arms. “They hate each other.”
“All the best love stories start as enemies.” Teddy winked, leaning toward Brenton. “Have you started the book I gave you?”
He grinned.
I’d spent most of my life on the outside. Never a participant but waiting to be shunned and feared. But sitting here, surrounded by Brenton’s friends and family, what he had didn’t feel fragile. It was sturdy and real.
And they were all offering Etienne and me space among them.
Chapter
Forty
BRENTON
With the windows open,the morning sunlight spilled through them and across the wooden floorboards. Respandora had a way of wrapping herself around you and welcoming you in her embrace.
Etienne and I picked through the chaos of last night’s “slumber party,” collecting blankets and pillows like we hadn’t both fought wars and monsters.
I didn’t care because I’d gotten to hold Finley through the night, only letting her go when she went to wake Etienne from a night terror.
Outside, her laughter rang across my yard. Sharp and bright.
My hands stilled on the blanket, and for several beats, I wasn’t there.
I was back beneath Vistos’s sky. Ash and the echo of wings that didn’t beat anymore.
I forced the memory away. The dragons would still be there when we returned. The war and Zaicha would still be waiting.
But this?
This wouldn’t.
I could picture Finley without looking. Training with Everly, boots digging in the dirt and short hair sticking to the back of her neck as she threw herself into each strike. Probably annoyed and swiping at the shorter hair that got in the way.
Etienne bent to pick up a pillow, angling his head to the side when Finley laughed again. “She’s fierce.” Fondness bled through his words.
I huffed out a quiet breath. “Yeah, she is.”
And she was tired. Not the kind that sleep fixed. The kind that lived in marrow and memory.
Metal against metal clanged from outside, followed by Everly’s bark of laughter. I let myself look through the cracked door. I caught a glimpse of Finley spinning, dirt smeared across her cheek, hair a mess, and a grin wide.
My chest loosened in a way it hadn’t since dragons fell from Vistos’s sky.
I loved her. It wasn’t the clean, simple love that stories were written about. We were flawed, both of us. But I loved that there weren’t any pretenses of perfection between us. I loved the way she faced obstacles, as if she wouldn’t let them win. The way her humor and wit called to mine. How even afraid, she’d trusted the new thread of her magic and gone to the dragons, heart trembling but eager to help them. How she never stopped choosing to get back up.
