“You fucking bitch,” Jareth spat, starting to rise. “How dare you?—"
But Imsel stepped in front of Gisela, raising their staff andpointing it at Jareth’s throat. “I’ve put up with your insolence long enough. We need you no longer. I won’t hesitate to tie you to one of these thorny trees and leave you in the desert for the predators to devour if you do not cease your disrespect to the members of our party. Understood?”
Jareth’s eyes went wide, an obvious insult on his tongue, but as he scanned the group, he knew he was clearly outnumbered. “Understood.”
Imsel gave a curt nod, their eyes lingering on Gisela for a moment before walking away from Jareth. The tension eased, though most everyone gave Jareth a wide berth.
“Are you alright?” Casimir tucked a strand of loose hair behind Ava’s ear.
“I’m fine. I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting that to happen…it just came out of nowhere.”
“Ava.” He looked at her fiercely, gently gripping her chin.
“Yes?” she whispered.
“You had a reasonable reaction to someone purposely using your past against you. Don’t you ever apologize for feeling your emotions or needing a moment to recover. Ever.”
“Okay.” She swallowed.
“Are you ready to keep going?”
“Yes.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead, taking a deep breath before standing and helping her up. Nothing else was said about the altercation, and Ava remained silent as they trudged on through the sand, Casimir unwilling to let go of her hand the entire time.
She tried to quell her embarrassment at being triggered so easily, thinking she’d moved past all that had happened. That she was happy now that she’d found her true home, her family and friends. Her soulbond.
And shewashappy…though trauma didn’t always care about that. Sometimes it reared its ugly head at the most inconvenient of times. A wound that was mending, albeit slowly. But when something picked at the wound, fresh blood seemed to pour from it until she was forced to pull herself together and patch it back up again. Scrambling to reclaim her path toward healing.
But she knew she would be alright in the end. Because she had the tremendous support of everyone around her. Others who had gone through similar horrors. Who knew exactly what she was feeling. Who never judged her when she panicked or needed a moment to gather herself. Who understood. And wasn’t that something?
Because to be understood was to be loved.
And loved she was.
42
Casimir could not stop stewing over what Jareth had said. It was as if his brother kept a mental list of everyone’s triggers and knew the perfect time to bring them up.
He seemed to hope his current target would fall apart. He’d done it to Casimir so many times over the years he’d lost count. Though Casimir tried not to take the bait, it was difficult. Jareth would knowingly say something terrible, Casimir would explode and then Jareth would divert everyone’s attention to Casimir’s reaction, pointing out how the ‘big brute’ couldn’t control his temper.
When in reality, Jareth was the one with a violent temper. He just tried to make everyone act first to deflect his own shortcomings. He was a coward, hiding his own insecurities behind insults and cruelty.
But for him to aim it at Ava while they were in the middle of the godsdamned desert? To make her relive those horrors she had experienced when she was doing so well? Casimir hated seeing her like that; could hardly bear it. Helpless and scared and panicking.
Imsel’s reaction and quick defense of Gisela had surprised Casimir. But even the quiet fae captain was fed up with Jareth’s heartlessness.
They all were.
“I see it,” Raine’s voice brought Casimir back to the present. “There. Just beyond that dune.”
Casimir shielded his eyes with his hand and squinted.
A cluster of mountainous bluffs sat in the distance, isolated in a sea of sand. And at the base of those rocks, was an opening. The cave.
Ava sucked in a breath from beside him. “We’re almost there,” she whispered. Casimir could hear the nerves in her voice. The fragility. Still drained from her earlier panic attack.
Perhaps theyshouldtie up Jareth and leave him to be devoured.
