AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And to be honest, she would love the brownies to accept her. Or at least let Nova join them with their usual cooking routine sometimes. This room was therapy for her, and she missed having it. She missed her mother most here.
Nova finished preparing the salad and was giving the chili one last check when she felt hands slide around her stomach. Startling, she almost threw the pot at her assailant.
“It’s just me,” Leaf’s comforting voice rumbled near her ear.
She exhaled as he dropped his chin on her shoulder.
“You surprised me,” she said.
“You couldn’t feel me approaching through the bond?”
“I don’t know.”
“I need to train you. I’ve neglected my duty as Team Leader.” Annoyance sharpened his tone. He shifted her hair to one side and then dropped a kiss on her neck. She shivered and melted into him, smiling as he added, “We don’t even know what your elemental affinities are or if your gift will manifest.”
“Maybe I’ll just have the pretty freckles,” she mumbled.
“Or maybe it’s a lack of training or the taint holding you back.” His warm palm grazed down her glowing arm. “You’re connected to the Well. This is proof.”
“I don’t feel like…” She sighed.
“Like what?”
“Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m meant to be here. I’m trying to find things to be excited about, but I’ve landed in the middle of a conflict that I feel like I’ve caused.”
Nova’s apprehension wasn’t the only source shared through their bond. Leaf felt it too. He turned her to face him. As he swiped a lock of hair from her forehead, he looked deeply into her eyes and said, “You have as much right as anyone else to be here. The Well brought you back.”
“What if… what if it was only because Jace asked for it? I know we had this argument already, but I can’t stop thinking about it. A few thousand years of service has to get you a reward from the Well, right?”
“You are not a prize.” His gaze darkened, and tension crept along his shoulders. “We don’t know why the Well does what it does, but I know with one hundred percent certainty that it chooses good people to bless. That means you.”
He kissed the tip of her nose, and Nova softened to his embrace.
“Keep romancing me,Papi.”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
She chuckled, hugged him hard, and returned to the chili. It was done.
“How did the conversation go with your friends?” she asked.
“They’re not my friends,” he answered automatically. Then he shook his head in self-disparagement. “I suppose they are. At least, they’re the closest things I have to friends.”
“Seems like they’re more like family. Family isn’t always easy.” She frowned, unsure if she believed her next words. “Usually, they’re worth it.”
Leaf’s eyes filled with compassion, and he stroked her cheek. “Having a twin like that wouldn’t have been easy. I feel your pain and guilt whenever you talk about him. You tried for so long to love him, but he couldn’t feel love. You did more than humanly possible.”
She sniffed. “I should have done less. Maybe if we’d cut him out of our lives earlier, my parents would still be alive, and the world wouldn’t be a wasteland.”
“Or maybe there would be nothing left. Have you ever thought about that? You could have delayed his descent or given him something else to focus on. But let’s not talk about that before your dinner. Did the women behave?”
She sighed and looked for a way to turn off the oven. “They were nice to me. Very polite, and I think they—how do you turn this thing off?”
“I… have no idea.”
She rounded on him. “Hoja de los Guardianes, don’t tell me that in all your time living here, you’ve never once turned on the stove?”
“I won’t tell you then.” His lips curved, and he ducked to inspect the oven. He shot her a disarming smile from his knees, then reached around the side and turned a crank. The heat emanating from the stovetop died.
