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“Thank Christ.”

Were those tears in his eyes?

“I thought you were gone. I thought you’d never come back. Fee, holy shit. Never do that to me again.” He was babbling, his glowing green eyes still taking her in, still raking over her like he didn’t believe she was real. “I’ve been trying to nurse you back to health, but I’m a terrible nurse and Gert kept making me drink this horrible tea and at first I thought she was trying to kill me but then I think it started working⁠—”

“Theo, breathe.”

“Sorry.” He blew out a long breath. “You’ve been asleep for so long, I guess I have a lot to say.”

Phoebe eased herself up to a seat, Theo’s eyes on her the whole time like he wanted to help but also like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to touch her.

“How long have I been like that?” she asked. It was twilight outside, but she had no idea how many days she’d been asleep.

“Four days.”

“Four days? No wonder my breath is horrible.” She put a hand over her mouth, but Theo just grinned at her stupidly like he’d never seen something so wonderful as a rumpled, stinky dryad. “How long have you been here?”

“Three and a half days.”

Fee raised an eyebrow. “And what have you been doing here for three and a half days?”

Theo ran a hand through his hair, a sheepish expression crossing his beautiful features. “I told you, I was trying to nurse you back to health. And I made you this…” He gestured up at the ceiling.

“And why would you do that?”

“Fee…”

“Last I saw you, you were very angry with me, Theo.”

“I still am.”

“But you’re here.”

“Yes.” His grin was gone, but his eyes … his eyes never left her face.

“Why?” The question was so quiet, so small.

“Because I love you.”

“Oh.” Everything inside of her went still. There were a lot of ways to love someone. She shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

“I love you, and you’re my Mate, and I want you forever.”

Fee sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh.” He’d said it. The words she’d dreaded and craved for years, and they rioted through her, stealing her words and her thoughts.

“Yeah.” Theo ran a shaking hand through his hair again. His whole body was rigid, held tightly in check. He still hadn’t touched her, hadn’t reached for her. He was thin, she noticed now as she sat there dumbly trying to absorb his words. His cheeks were sunken and dark circles hung beneath his eyes. She might have been asleep for four days, but Theo looked like he hadn’t slept in a year.

“I shouldn’t have lied to you,” she said. “About Lena. It seemed like the right thing at the time.”

He gave a stiff nod. “I don’t want us to lie to each other anymore, Fee. I hate that you felt like you had to. Like you couldn’t trust me, but I get why you did.” He smiled a little ruefully. “I know I don’t have a great history of dealing rationally with my brothers.”

“True.”

“I’ll leave if you want me to,” he said. He held her gaze, still studying her like he didn’t believe she was real.

“No. Don’t.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She was done lying. She wanted Theo to stay. Forever. She was a nymph with a Mate or a girl with a boy or a dryad with her big strong, oak tree. However you sliced it, Theo belonged to her and she to him, and she was done pretending otherwise.

He breathed out a long sigh. “Thank fuck. I wasn’t really going to, anyway.”