Eighteen
Zamir
"You have to goback."
"What?" I pushed Muffin's head up so I could sit, and glanced over the back of the couch to Nolan, who was coming out of the kitchen with two bottles of water. "You want me to go back? After the way the hea—Zephyrtreated you?"
Nolan smiled softly as he squeezed himself onto the couch on Muffin's other side, though it didn't reach his eyes. He handed me a water bottle, and I took a small sip.
"Zephyr needs every bit of help he can get. I sensed it today, the issue the Sanctuary is having. Your leaving will only make it worse."
I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth, chewing on it as I thought. As annoyed as I was at Zephyr, I didn't want any of my friends to get hurt.
"Will you tell me? How do you two know each other? What happened between you?"
It was strange that Nolan had known not one but two people close to me, but it also made sense. He'd lived for thousands of years, and traveled all over. The supe population wasn't that big in the first place.
"I met him when he was fifteen. He wanted to escape a bad situation, and he asked me for help. We were supposed to meet up later that evening, but he never showed."
My brows furrowed. "Wait. He didn't show up, and he's mad atyou?"
Nolan sighed, a deep exhale that came from deep in his soul. "In our... conversation today, I discovered that he had shown up, but he believed that I hadn't."
"What?" I asked, even more puzzled.
Nolan hummed. "The person he was running from, they must've discovered what he was up to. They used some spell to keep us both from seeing each other. We could've been standing right in front of each other and never realized it."
"Fuck," I mumbled as it all clicked into place. "So all these years, Zephyr has believed that you broke your promise."
Nolan nodded, his eyes on Muffin's silky head. "I understand why he dislikes me."
"But he knows now, right? That you weren't at fault? That you waited for him?"
"He does. But it's not easy to let go of the centuries of resentment."
"Centuries?"
"Hmmm. I met him about two-and-a-half centuries ago."
Wow. I'd known Zephyr was old, but I hadn't realized he was that old. That explained the gray in his hair. I'd always thought it was because of how much worry we caused him.
"He won't always hate you," I said, and wished I was more confident.
"Hmm... Maybe."
I sighed, hating this chasm between two of the most important people in my life. Zephyr Morrigan had saved my life, like he'd once hoped Nolan would save his. I could understand his hurt, his pain.
If he was trying to escape someone bad, someone who'd discovered his plans, I couldn't imagine what they'd done to him after they stopped him.
My thoughts flickered to his prosthetic, and I swallowed. He'd never told us how he lost that arm...
"You okay?"
"Mmhmm," I murmured as I pushed all thoughts of Zephyr and his past out of my mind, at least for the day.
Nolan and I had gone from an impromptu decision to move in together to me bringing a packed bag to his place, all in a single morning. It was a lot.
I placed the bottle that I'd barely taken a sip from on the coffee table, then nudged Muffin until she sighed and climbed off the couch. Nolan watched me with a soft look as I climbed into his lap, and he wrapped his arms around my waist.
