Page 135 of Legendary

He started to say something, but he caught himself, knowing that arguing with me was futile. He brought his fingers to my chin and tilted my head up. “As long as you’re fine. Be honest.”

“I’m obviously not one hundred percent, but I’m okay.” He looked satisfied enough with my answer and stepped back, allowing me to walk past him. To my father’s surprise, I turned around and hugged him.

“I love you, son,” he said into my hair, before he shooed me away. Zane was right outside the room, as if he had nothing better to do than to keep watch. I guess when it came to Natalia, all he ever wanted to do was to protect her. I nodded at him and he mirrored the action back, giving me a pat on the back as I passed him. I walked past a room with the door ajar and looked inside. I saw Beetee asleep, her hot pink hair fanned out behind her. In the corner of the room, Elise sat in a chair, staring at her nails. She looked content just sitting there. The Beetee situation would need to be handled, and whenever my father brought Daya and Alex here, the story would have to come out.

I popped my head inside when I found a completely open door and saw her. She had both her hands flat on the bed as she leaned into it with her head down. Her curls created a wall that hid her face, but I knew it was her. I always would. I knocked on the wall inside the room, causing her to jump. She faced me, curling her fingers toward her body as she extended her arm,motioning for me to come inside. I only made it about two feet in front of her before I stopped. I wasn’t totally sure what she wanted from me after everything. I didn’t know where we stood, but I didn’t want to push her.

She fidgeted with her fingers, as if she was a little nervous. “Nick.”

“Yes?” I was prepared to talk. I was also ready to not talk and just sit in silence, soaking up the fact that we could both be alive in the same room together again.

She didn’t want either one of those things.

“Can you please kiss me?” She gave me one of those shy smiles I didn’t see very often, but the words were said with a confidence I knew all too well. It took me only a second before I had her pulled into me, my mouth on hers. It was like every single good thing that had ever happened to me was all wrapped up in this one kiss. She arched her back but took my head with her as she braced her hand along the back of my neck. She tasted sweet, but a little like fire. I broke the kiss, and she pouted.

“I came here to see you, to see if you were alright,” I said, unwrapping her arms from me.

“Don’t I look alright?” she pointed out, trailing her hands down her body.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yes, you do, but Dani, you…you were…”

“Dead.”

That word made me cringe as I remembered her dead body lying in my lap. “Yeah, that. Now…you’re not.”

She turned her body as she leaned back against the bed. “Looks that way, huh?” I rubbed my hand across my mouth, trying to find the words to describe how I felt in those moments.

“Nick, what happened?”

“I don’t know. I just know that I wanted you back. I hated that, yet again, someone I cared about was leaving me. I felt like I failed you, but it also wasn’t fair that I had to move on…without you.” I exhaled a long breath, avoiding her eye contact.

“Then all of a sudden I’m alive again?” She questioned.

I shrugged, conceding.

“So, you resurrected me.” It wasn’t a question. No, it was simply a statement.

My mouth formed an O at her bluntness. “Well, I mean, I wouldn’t say…”

She lifted herself up onto the bed, dangling her feet off the side. “I would…because that’s what happened. The real question is not why it happened, but how.”

I walked to where she sat and cocked my hip out to lean against the bed. “How indeed.”

She walked her fingers along my shoulder. “Have you been holding out on me, Mr. Cassial?”

I laughed a little. “I swear, if I knew something like that from me was possible…” I let the words fall away as I reached over and trailed my knuckles over her stomach. “I’m sorry.”

“Nick, stop. Just stop being sorry because, frankly, it’s rather annoying and weird, since nothing is your fault.”

“I fucking stabbed you.”

“I was trying to kill you. Saving a shit ton of people while only losing one, to me, is worth it in the grand scheme of things.”

I wrapped my hand around her knee, squeezing. “Not when it comes to you.”

She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “It was scary, dying. I didn’t actually think I’d ever be scared, but I think leaving you was something I found myself hating the most. Don’t let that go to your pretty head, though.”

“I didn’t like you leaving me either, which probably triggered something, whatever pulled you out of death.”

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