Page 165 of Living Legend

He pulled his arm back and punched me in the shoulder. "It's okay, as long as you learned your lesson like a good boy."

I grabbed my shoulder, trying to pretend like it hurt. "If you honestly want me to run through the full explanation of everything, I can."

Reese shook his head vigorously. "Oh, fuck no. My brain can only take so much, and I think I got the gist of things. As long as you know that from now on, all information you receive, weallreceive." He pointed his index finger and made a circle with it, enveloping all of us. He then pointed his finger at Elise. "How's that shoulder, little one? Done keeping secrets?"

Elise gave him both her middle fingers, gave Dani one last look, and then stomped away from all of us.

Reese's lips turned up into a smile as he turned to me. "I'm so ready to make some fuckers bleed."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You and Elise are surprisingly a lot alike."

He took a step back from me. "You take that back."

Dani let out a small laugh, which caught my attention. Her smile fell when she noticed me looking and that tight facial expression was back. "We should go. I'm starting to get antsy."

Natalia nodded her agreement. "Yes, we should. I'll portal us to the grounds, get a sense of the surroundings before we head inside." We all nodded and followed her towards the path Elise took.

"I was telling Isabel that I'm surprised you're coming with us. She's a little worried," I said, speaking so that she heard me as she walked ahead of me. Natalia had long legs just like me, but somehow, she was much faster.

Natalia flattened her palms over her skirt. "She worries too much, and frankly, so does Zane. That man tends to forget that I tell him what to do and not the other way around. He'll be monitoring the walls I've put up just in case anything leaves the perimeter of The Skies." She chuckled to herself as she walked over to Dani, whose ass I had to force myself not to stare at while I walked behind her.

Reese slapped his hand down on my shoulder, startling me out of my thoughts. "Listen, if it's any consolation, I don't care that you guys had sex. I mean, it's strange and I don't want to know anything about it, but if you want to continue, I'm not going to keep you from what makes your dick happy."

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out – only a weird strangled noise. Finally, I found words. "Thanks. I'll, uh, keep that in mind. What did you guys talk about anyway?" The fact that I had my best friend's blessing to continue to fool around with the girl who currently did not want to fool around with me anymore was laughable if the circumstances weren't what they were.

Reese shrugged, pulling his hair tie out and letting his long hair flow. "Nothing important, just came to an understanding."

I let that relief wash over me. Everyone was on even ground now. We were either on neutral territory or back to normal. It seemed like a great way to fall into whatever was waiting for us. I had demolished the hope that everything was alright at The Skies, but the fact that nothing had extended past the building itself, meaning the outlining villages, was odd. I wanted my father and Daya to be safe, but the fact that everything seemed so contained had a shudder running up my spine. It all felt so calculated.

"Are you guys ready?" Natalia asked, giving each of us a pointed look.

Elise cocked her head to the side. "Born ready."

"Let's get this party started," Reese said.

Small curls started to fall into her eyes, but Dani let them stay as she looked at me with her intense brown eyes. We were about to go into something we likely weren't prepared for and the last time I'd kissed her was right before everything went to shit. "I asked you a while ago to figure out where your loyalties lie. Have you, Nicholas?" She said my name, every syllable a sharp cut.

She was asking me to think about what I was getting into. She was asking me if I had to make the choice to run my sword through Jonah or any one of the executives, could I? She was asking would I defend these people in front of me against the people I had listened to during my formative years. I'm pretty sure I would do all that forher.

Fuck, what was happening to me?

"Actions speak louder than words, right?" I volleyed back.

Her lips twitched for a moment, as if she wanted to give me one of the smiles I so desperately wanted to see. She didn't. We all watched as Natalia whipped her hand around to create a circle, the light from within it glowing bright. I severely hoped Elise and Dani could keep their shit together to get this done. I hoped Dani could believe I did want the best for her.For her. Not for me.

I stepped up to the light as I watched Dani disappear. Natalia gave me one last solid nod before stepping through.

I looked behind me at the lush green hedges and trees, at the flowers that constantly seemed to sprout out of nowhere, but were beautiful, nonetheless. I watched the Enchanters for a moment, living their lives as if today was the only day that mattered. I wondered if it was like this before the war. A little girl running back and forth playing hide and seek with her friends stopped to look at me and waved.

I waved back.

I could see myself spending much more time here if given the chance. No, not just myself, notbymyself. That beating organ in my chest faltered and stuttered as I stepped through the portal thinking that I wanted to spend time here with…her.

Chapter Twenty-Five

UNKNOWN

"Have you found it?" I asked one of the sentries.

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