“Lennox—” I clamored after her out of the tent. She didn’t stop, not even turning a shoulder toward me as she continued her pursuit through the camp.
“Lennox!” I followed her to the area we had set up as a training facility. The remaining snow had been pushed aside, forming a circle, the dirt packed down into an even base.
She drew a blade from her thigh, rotating it in her hand before sending it careening toward a tree.
The blade stuck into the trunk. She quickly drewanother, one after another she threw her blades until she emptied her sheaths.
Her chest heaved, her ragged breaths echoing in the empty forest.
The hair ripped loose from her braid blew around her face as she continued to stare at her blades embedded in the bark of the tree.
I took slow measured steps toward her, leaving only an inch between her back and my front as I took her clenched fists in my hand, forcing her fingers to interlock with mine.
“Lennox.”
She closed her eyes and shuttered as I wrapped our connected arms around her torso.
“The one time I want to choose to be selfish—that I want to pick myself over Lethenia—I can’t even do it. I can’t be selfish and ask you not to risk your life because either way I lose. There is no winning in this.”
“You know how good of a witch Luce is, and with Hecate’s help stopping—doing this spell, should be no problem.”
“But what if it doesn’t work?” A single tear slipped down her cheek.
“We can’t focus on the what if’s Lennox.” I couldn’t let myself. I couldn’t let myself think about what it would do to Lennox if I died. But there was no way out of this. There was only one option that could keep us on track to win this war.
And it depended on me risking my life.
“I’m scared,” she admitted. I wrapped my arms tighter around her.
“I’m scared too, but we can’t let fear dictate our decisions. We’re Lennox Adair and Luka Rossi for fucks sake.”
She managed a weak smile.
“I know you’ll be able to survive without me if it doesn’t work, Lennox.”
“Sure, I probably would, but it doesn’t mean I want to. I don’t want to live in a world without you in it.”
“Let’s hope to the fucking Goddess you don’t have to.”
She shifted in my hold, turning so she could embrace me fully, her cheek resting against my chest.
“If Luce fucks this up and kills you for real, I will kill her, I don’t care if she’s my cousin.”
“I’d be upset if you didn’t. Sweetheart.”
We returned to the tent a while later, everyone was still there, waiting for Lennox’s return, excluding Astria. She must have had enough of us and returned to the sky.
All eyes tracked Lennox as she made her way to the center of the room, bracing her hands on the edge of the large circular table in the center of the room.
“I apologize for my reaction earlier—it was—it was a lot to take in. But you all know me?—”
“Exactly, we all know you so there is no need to apologize,” Kara interrupted.
“I still feel like I need to.”
“Kara’s right.” Luce stood and approached her cousin. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. Your reaction was warranted.”
Lennox only dipped her chin, meeting Luce’s gaze. “I’ll let you do the spell. I trust you. I’m still terrified, but I trust you, Luce. I trust you all. I want to make sure you all know that.”
