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As soon as their ship cleared the airfield, she turned in her seat to look at Kozien. “You didn’t have to do that for us, you know. Get yourself disowned like that.” He let out a long sigh, piloting the ship through the atmosphere. “I mean it, Kozien. Gabe and I can just walk away. This doesn’t have to be your fight, too.”
He shook his head at her. “And what good will that do you both? You will never survive on your own. Not against the D’Narvius. I told you I will protect you. That was my solemn promise to you.”
She couldn’t help but feel a warmth spread throughout her chest.
Even through the intense battles they’d been dealing with the past few days, it felt good that she could count on him. Even in the darkest moments, when she really thought Oxxaro was about to rape her, he swooped in and saved her.
How could she not be grateful for him?
“Thank you, Kozien,” she murmured to him.
He was quiet for the rest of the trip back to the hub, lost in thought by whatever plagued his mind—whether her words of gratitude or what had happened with his father. She wished she could reach in there and discover what was really going on inside his head. His stone face was hard to read, even from how much time they’d spent together.
She knew he was bound to be upset over his father’s words and how he’d been disowned. It was only natural. But Gianna wished she could fix it for him. She wanted to make it so his father wasn’t an asshole and didn’t demand things of his offspring they clearly didn’t want to give him.
Unfortunately, the only thing she could really do was to support him in any way she could. Even if he was stone on the outside, she knew better. She knew he had deeper layers because he’d shown them to her firsthand.
She loved that part of him the deepest and cherished it the most out of anything.
As soon as they landed at the hub, Kozien opened the door for all of them.
Gianna couldn’t help but feel relieved that they were finally back in territory that wasn’t threatening to kill them with long spears and unresolved anger issues.
“I’ve got a place at a local motel that we can stay at,” her brother said once they were all off of the ship. “It’s not much, but it’ll keep us safe for the time being.”
Kozien patted Gabe on the back of the shoulder. “Lead the way.”
As soon as Gabe turned to start walking, Kozien pulled her against his side and tucked an arm tightly around her. She smiled. It made her feel safe and secure when he was like this. Even though they were all at risk of getting jumped or mugged, at least Kozien would be there to defend them.
The motel that Gabe described was, to its core, not much. But at least it had running water, two beds, and a place to rest while they recouped from being on Lorr.
She couldn’t help but laugh when Gabe, after locking the door behind them all, immediately went over to one of the beds and flopped down onto it.
“Comfy?”
“Mmrrff,” came his muffled response.
She snorted at him and turned to see Kozien’s eyes darting around the small space. He took it all in, analyzing every single nook and cranny to make sure it was as safe as Gabe claimed. Once he was satisfied, he nodded to himself and moved to close the distance between them.
Gianna smiled when he cupped her face with both of his hands and pulled her into a brief kiss.
“I’ve been thinking about something since coming back from Lorr.”
“I saw that.” She tried to smile at him, her worry clinging to her voice.
He brushed her hair back away from her face. “It is something serious, Gianna.”
Behind them, she heard Gabe shift on the bed. Most likely he’d moved to sit up and eavesdrop on whatever conversation they were about to have.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “What is it?”
Instead of answering her, Kozien looked over her shoulder to where her brother was. “Gabe, I would like to ask for your sister’s hand.”
Gianna felt her eyes widen. She whipped around to look at Gabe, watching as he blinked in confusion.
“As in… her hand in marriage?”
Kozien scoffed. “Yes, of course that’s what I meant. What else did you think I was referring to when asking that? Her actual hands?”
