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She hefted her bag with aching arms and tottered closer.

He held her gaze for just a moment before looking away, a weary weight so heavy on him that she could see it in his posture and hear it in his voice when he spoke. “If you need anything, you can come to me.”

“Linshi, Dacha.” She normally would have hugged him, but he looked as if one more touch would break him.

While she appreciated that he was making the offer and looking out for her, right now he appeared as if he were barely holding things together, much less able to handle her emotions on top of it. If she needed someone to talk to, she’d wait for Merrik to return. Or perhaps she’d wander to the aeroplane hangar and have a major bonding session with Fieran’s girlfriend Pip.

Dacha gave the barest of nods before he picked up his rucksack and retreated into his room.

Uncle Iyrinder moved as if to take up his customary position guarding Dacha’s door, even though he must want a shower as much as the rest of them. Yet he paused by her, giving her a nod of his own. “The same goes for me. If you need to talk…”

“I can come to you. Linshi.” Adry wasn’t up to hugging Merrik’s dacha the way she would her own dacha just yet, but she managed a smile for his fatherly offer.

Gathering her remaining energy, she dragged herself the few yards to her own room, the space wonderfully empty and quiet.

The hot shower was as glorious as she’d imagined, as were the clean clothes and the hot food an elven aide delivered to her door.

Even though it was still early, Adry collapsed into bed, hoping her sleep would be uninterrupted.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

Merrik circled his aeroplane high over Fort Defense, waiting while the rest of the squadron landed.

Something in him relaxed at the sight of the glinting metal hangars and the sprawl of buildings and dirt roads below. This fort felt strangely like home, and after nearly two weeks of camping out in muddy, makeshift aerodromes, he was more than ready for proper showers and a bed in a tent that was off the ground.

But mostly the showers. Even in the layers of his thick flight coat and thigh-high boot, he could smell himself after days without showering. Too bad the shower building would be fully claimed by the other flyboys, human and elven, by the time he and Fieran landed.

At last, Fieran led the way in a spiral toward the ground that bled off speed as they dropped lower.

As they made a final circle over the hangar, Fieran’s voice crackled over the radio. “Look who’s waiting for us.”

Merrik tilted his aeroplane to better see past the lower wing. The ground crew bustled before the hangar doors, pushing the landed aeroplanes inside.

Two heads—one with dark brown curls and one red-gold waves—stood to one side, hands shading eyes to peer upward.

Merrik grinned, though he didn’t take a hand from the stick to wave since he needed a firm grip to turn his aeroplane for its final approach on the airfield. Not only was Adry safe and sound and here after her week at the front, but she was waiting below for him.

More, there was just something right about her and Pip together. He and Fieran were a package deal. Adry and Pip would need to at least get along.

When given the all clear to land over the radio, Merrik and Fieran lined up on the airfield and brought their aeroplanes lower. Merrik took his hand off the control stick long enough to push his goggles onto his forehead, a precaution in case of a crash.

The wheels of Merrik’s aeroplane touched the ground, jounced upward, then landed firmly. He shut off the engine and hung on as the aeroplane shuddered, another jolt shaking the craft when the tail thudded into the earth and the tailskid bit into the dirt.

His aeroplane rolled toward the hangar, but before it had fully come to a halt, Adry raced from her spot beside the hangar, ducked under the wings, and leapt onto the toe step. She placed her hands on either side of his face, tilted his head toward her, and kissed him.

He buried his fingers in her hair and kissed her right back. How he’d missed her. Every night, once the busyness of flying and defending the Alliance ground troops had ended for the day, he had stared at the stars, wondering where she was and if she was all right.

After a moment he pulled back, giving her a wry smile. “Sorry, I must smell less than pleasant.”

Adry shrugged, grinning. “I smelled worse after my week at the front. It doesn’t bother me.”

He searched her face, trying to read the truth written there. While her grin was wide, there were shadows in her blue eyes that there hadn’t been before. He softened his tone. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She looked away before she shook her head. “No, not at the moment.”

Sitting in an aeroplane at the edge of a bustling airfield probably wasn’t the place nor was this the time for such a discussion.