“She’s right, though. Her aunt isn’t going to stop. I saw it in her eyes when she watched Wren perform. She hates her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she enjoyed torturing her.”
Just the thought makes my blood boil and my magic fizzle in my veins, begging me to do something about her.
Titus’s hand on my shoulder makes me let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, and I loosen my hold on Wren.
“We won’t let her get to Wren again. You promised, and I’ve yet to see you break one.”
I snort a laugh because he knows damn well I couldn’t even if I wanted to, but he’s right. We’ll keep Wren safe, together.
Ican’t stay away.
I want to keep her far from my father, but after seeing the state of her after less than twenty minutes with her aunt, I can’t make myself walk away.
The urge to protect her is so strong that I find myself watching her, needing to know where she is, even touching her.
She slept most of the night in Julian’s arms, but when he had to pee, I nearly jumped out of my seat at the chance to take her. I’d been envious of him from the moment she climbed into his arms. If I could just get it together, that could be me with her. It nearly had been, but I’d fucked it all up.
“You don’t have to…” Wren mumbles, attempting to move from my arms, but I hold her tighter as I mentally kick myself.
“I want to,” I assure her, and that seems to get her attention. She peeks up at me through her lashes, her eyes searching mine. All I can do is hold her gaze and hope she finds what she’s looking for.
She gives me the smallest of nods before she leans into me, her head on my chest, right over my heart. I wonder if she can hear the way she makes it nearly skip a beat.
“My aunt gave your father something.” Her voice is so quiet that I’m not sure I heard her correctly.
“What?”
“Right before the showcase started, she had me take her up to his office, and she gave him some kind of scroll.” I hear her confusion with the word, and honestly, I don’t blame her. In this day and age, a scroll would be weird for non-magic folk. “Anyway, I don’t much like your father. He seems…” She trails off, and I’m not sure if she’s simply fallen asleep or trying to find a good word to describe him; I have a few.
“Mean,” she finally settles on, the word coming out with a yawn that reminds me she’s supposed to be sleeping, but even still, I can’t stop myself from chuckling.
Mean is a perfect word, really, and very Wren.
“An unbearable douchecanoe is what I think you meant to say,” Julian says from across the room, and I feel Wren look back over her shoulder at where he’s come back into the room.
“I would have said a twatwaffle personally,” Titus chimes in, and I hear Wren’s little huff of laughter.
“I’ve always called him a dickweed,” Dimitri says from the other chair, and again I feel her chuckle.
“Cuntzilla.” Every head turns toward the couch, Titus and Julian now sit cuddled up on when Gavin’s voice comes from behind it.
I wasn’t aware he had stayed.
“Whatever we call him, he’s bad news, and you need to stay away from him,” I tell her, feeling the need to warn her even if she seems to already have an off feeling about him.
“I will.” I feel her words more than hear them, and I know she’s going to fall asleep any second. Even still, it makes me happy to know she’s going to stay away.
I’ve never wanted to protect anything or anyone the way I want to with her.
“Did you want to go back to Julez?” I ask even as I pray to the moon that she’s already asleep. I don’t want to give her up, but if she’s more comfortable with him, as she should be since I’ve done nothing but fuck everything up, but fuck if I don’t want what they have.
She’s quiet for long enough that I’m sure she’s asleep, and I look to Julian, unsure what to do.
“I’m good here.” Her words light me up inside, and I have to stop myself from squeezing her as I relax back into the couch, happy to sit here all night if that’s what she needs.
“Goodnight, Wren,” I whisper, my lips pressed to the top of her head as I let her scent fill my lungs and settle something inside of me I never knew was possible.
“Goodnight,” she mumbles sleepily before she goes limp and begins softly snoring.
