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Dessin hardens his gaze on me, and he lifts his chin in full confidence. “I know you can.”
“How?” Warrose asks.
“Skylenna will have to figure that out. We’ll need leverage. Something to tip the scales. Aurick won’t want to spend time fighting us when Vexamen is right on their heels.”
Awesome. No pressure.
After a while, we decide to eat dinner together. Dessin rations out the hog he hunted and cooked. Warrose passes around his canteen of rum. Normally, I wouldn’t choose to drink hard liquor. But—we’re together again. Our family made it out of this craziness in one piece. It’s cause for celebration.
I throw back a swig of the spicy drink, wincing as it burns a trail down my throat.
The meat is cooked through perfectly. Tender. Juicy. And even though we didn’t have seasoning, it’s flavorful. I smile as I tear into it. It’s been so long since I’ve eaten and experienced that rush of dopamine.
“What’s that noise?” Niles asks, looking around.
I pause midbite, searching the trees that are dimly lit by the lowering sun. Everyone goes still. Has Demechnef come for us already?
But there isn’t even the chirping sound of crickets.
“I don’t hear anything,” I say.
Dessin looks up from his food. “Skylenna hums when she eats.”
Niles barks out a laugh. “What are you, five?!”
Heat rushes to my cheeks.Shit. Was I humming? But Dessin pats my hand. A hint of a smile on his lips. He nods for me to keep eating.
“I think it’s cute,” Ruth snickers, reaching into her pack. A glass jar filled with a moss-green substance falls into her lap. “Shirt off.” She nods her head at Niles.
I look back and forth between the two of them. But my moment of confusion is quickly quieted as Niles yanks his ash gray shirt over his head, unveiling the morphed skin over his right arm, shoulder blade, and a little speckled over his ribs.
A shiver prickles over my arms and legs. It looks better than it did the first day, but still shiny and bright red. My throat bobs. He’s been traveling through these forests just to make sure I was okay. He’s endured unspeakable suffering without a single complaint.
For me.
For our family.
Ruth scoops out a handful of the moss-green cream and begins rubbing it over Niles’s burns, slowly, methodically, careful not to apply too much pressure. And he doesn’t even wince. Instead, he trains his attention on DaiSzek’s big head still slung across his lap. I don’t think there was ever a happier man in the whole world at this moment.
Chekiss catches my stare. “I offered to apply the medicine, but Niles seems to think my energy would make it worse. Heneededa woman’s touch.”
“It’s true. Verbatim.” Ruth snorts.
My chest tightens. I open my mouth to say something. Maybe an apology for leaving Niles to make a decision that literally scarred him for life. For not being there to hold his hand during a vicious recovery period. There’s so much to make up for.
“You did a brave thing on that beach.” Dessin’s voice rumbles through the silence. Low and meaningful as he takes another bite of his food. “We all owe you our lives for that.”
Ruth stops her application, watching Niles for his reaction, and Chekiss pats him on the unharmed arm. A glint of pride in his smile.
Niles doesn’t look up from his lap. He continues watching his own hand caressing the black fur. “I’d do it again.”
“I wish you never had to,” I say, swallowing down the bile in my throat. “I’m sorry I left you, Niles. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
Niles takes a moment, pausing his attention on DaiSzek. And I can tell he’s been waiting to say whatever is on the tip of his tongue.
“I understand why you’ve been gone. But you don’t get to walk away from us again. You don’t get to shut down or turn your back on your family.” His eyes flash to Dessin. “Neither of you do. No more keeping secrets. No more going rogue. I get you two are madly in love, and the world revolves around the other’s axis, and I know I don’t contribute a whole hell of a lot to your mastermind plans or lethal expertise in combat. But I would literally walk through fire to keep our family together.”
Tears sting the backs of my eyes, and I hear his screams again, loud and agonizing. But I maintain eye contact because that’s what he deserves.
