“You don’t want me to speak for you; it won’t be kind,” she said.
“Come on, Thorns. Let me have a little fantasy in my comeback from death.”
“You cheated,” Rose countered.
“You’re not glad I turned out to be a supernatural being and survived it?”
“Of course I am,” she grumbled, crossing her arms.
“Nephilim,” I said. His attention slipped back to me with a guilty smile.
“Surprise?”
I shook my head, incredulous. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“How could I? You were already dealing with being toldyouweren’t human.”
“I wouldn’t have felt so alone in that.” I didn’t mean for it to sound like an accusation, but I was hurt that he’d kept such a life-changing secret from me and carried it alone.
Being Nephilim would have been a lonely, hard burden to carry. The celestials had been away for a long time behind the veil, but now that they were out, Zath and his kind would be in hiding like the fae had from the king’s forces not so long ago. Auster had regarded what Zath was with such disdain it boiled my blood now. The Nephilim were hunted and either killed nor outcasted.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Truthfully I’ve been in denial about what I am for a long time. I didn’t want to believe I was different.”
“What does it mean to be Nephilim?” Rose asked.
“That I’m even more charming than you knew before.”
“You call yourself charming; I find you irritating.”
Zath chuckled, but it turned to winces of pain as he clutched his abdomen.
Rose huffed, adjusting his pillows to make him sit back. The tender care she displayed even with a sour frown warmed my heart.
“So what is our plan now, star-maiden?” Zath mused.
“Your plan is to rest. You’re not in the clear yet.”
“As I hear; I’ve rested far too much. Of course, that dark bastard still has to best me, doesn’t he?”
The light comment regarding Nyte’s situation didn’t land with the humor intended. Zath’s expression fell.
“Is he—?”
“He’s going to be okay,” I said quickly, more to quell the fast rush of panic in myself than to assure Zath. “But as I would tell him if he awoke right now, you’re not going anywhere until you can muster full combat without a wince.”
Zath groaned as he tried to sit up more; obviously he wouldn’t be lifting a sword anytime soon, never mind swinging it.
“Sounds like a challenge,” he said, voice strained with the pain he was trying to distract us from.
“Stop being difficult,” Rose fussed.
“Why does it feel like our roles have switched?”
Rose’s jaw worked, and I thought in any other circumstance she would abandon him from annoyance, but she didn’t leave. Instead she sat back in her chair, and it was only then I noticed the knitting equipment and a surprisingly neat half scarf.
I didn’t get to question the unlikely hobby when she said, “What is the plan? I heard you’ve been scouting.”
“We’ve been monitoring Auster’s defenses, trying to find any cracks we can exploit to get Eltanin back.”
