Page 132 of Fae Reckoning

“Yeah, I guess it probably will. But … am I being selfish by wanting you here?”

“Fuck yes. And you’d better keep it that way, no matter what you and Rush get up to.”

Unsure what to respond to that, I chuckled a bit awkwardly before silencing to observe the dragons. The sapphire-blue she-dragon perched regally atop a hillock she dwarfed, surveying the other dragons, including Einar, who’d been timid but making friends.

“You gotta give everyone time,” Xeno repeated. “Especially yourself. Everyone’s been through a lot. Healing won’t happen overnight.”

“No.” I frowned. “I don’t suppose it will.”

“You’re gonna have to be patient.” He laughed. “And we both know what a challenge that is for you.”

I rammed him playfully with my shoulder. He didn’t budge, solid wall of muscle that he was. “Hey. I can be patient.”

He merely raised a dubious brow.

I laughed too. “Okay. I can learn to be. I’ll have no choice.” My mirth dropped. “I’ll have to learn how to do a whole lot of things I’m not sure I’m ready for.” I bit my lip before realizing he was cataloging my every tell.

“You’re gonna do great. So fucking great. Look at all you’ve done already.”

My smile was shaky.

“You’re not just out here enjoying the dragons, are you?” Xeno’s arm wrapped protectively around my shoulder. “Who you hiding from? Want me to kill them for you?”

I snorted again. “I think there’s been enough killing for a while.”

“Only since that bastard who knocked you out and stole you from Nightguard right in front of me died, if not I might not agree.”

When the dust settled on the fighting, Dougal was dead, as were Coretta and Malina, two of the most aggressive of Talisa’s ladies whose hands had been all over Rush. Natania and her mother Dayana had survived, and while I wouldn’t regret that they had, I wasn’t exactly excited that they were still hanging around either. The same went for Selwin and Junius, part of Lennox’s tight group of bullies. At least Breccan, the male responsible for hacking off Hiroshi’s arm without need, had foundhis end.

In fact, several of the nobles who hadn’t been in the thick of the fighting had nevertheless met untimely ends. I suspected the aristos had capitalized on the chaos to take out the most threatening of their rivals. Quite a few of the nobility were suddenly poised to inherit land-owning titles from their unfortunate predecessors, and Rush and I had more important issues to attend to now than in-fighting among the most privileged of Embermere.

I sighed and leaned my head against Xeno’s shoulder, opened my mouth, closed it, then spat out the admission quickly. “My mom wants to die.”

His head whipped toward mine. “What?”

Another sigh. “Yeah. Her sisters are willing to fight and hang in there, but not her. She wants to call it quits just when we could get to know each other.”

Rush’s brothers and Ivar had led a small contingent to locate and guide all of Talisa’s captives whom she’d been draining back to the palace. All were making a swift recovery—all but Odelia Catalina Corisande.

“Why’s she want to die?” Xeno asked gently. He more than anyone else knew how long I’d wondered about my mother and how much I’d yearned to have her in my life when I’d believed her to be dead.

My stare settled in the distance. “She’s only had one period when she was all there since she got here, or at least that she was mostly all there. Edsel’s been doing all he can to help her, but he’s the one who told me in the first place that she’s too broken to come back.”

“Maybe she is.”

My spine stiffened. “Like hell. She can fight. Shehas tofight. She’s strong enough to make it through this. Talisa robbed her of her life, but she can get it back now.”

My eyeballs stung while Xeno said nothing, waiting. While he was correct in saying I had shit for patience, he had plenty.

“I want her to fight,” I eventually admitted. “I need her to fight. I lost my father?—”

“Your ‘father’ didn’t deserve you,” Xeno said sharply. “He was willing to let the cunt kill you. That’s nofather,” he spat the word.

No, it wasn’t. I inhaled deeply. “She’s the only family I have left.” Even as I said it, though, I realized it wasn’t true.

Xeno whipped around to grip me by the shoulders. “You have me. And I will always, fucking always, be your family.”

He waited until I nodded, my vision blurring, before adding, “And you have Rush now too.” A vein pulsed in his neck but he went on. “You have friends, lots of amazing friends, like Pru and Reed and everyone, and don’t forget, you have aunts too. They need time to recover, but once they do, I’ll bet they want to get to know their niece, especially when they find out how badass she is.”

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