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“Then new generations of warriors will rise, my love, and we will teach our children to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.” I will him to believe in what I’m saying because thinking that all of this pain, this suffering and unjustness continuing forever is enough to break even the strongest person.
“You are wise beyond your years,Azizam,” he tells me, tears glittering in his lashes as he cups my cheek in his uninjured hand, bringing our foreheads together. “You humble me with your conviction and belief in a better world to come.”
I smile. “It’s alright, old man, I’ll keep you young.” I have to bite my lip to stop from laughing as he holds completely still.
“I see I have another brat to punish,” he whispers, and in the low light of this magical place, in an exotic land, his words send electricity down to my core, lighting me up from the inside.
“I look forward to it,JigarTalâ,” I murmur, and a soft growl falls from his throat.
“Come, if we don’t leave now, I’m afraid I will take you to the nearest surface and fuck you until you can’t draw breath,Koshgelam.” His words are a rasping sound that does absolutely fucking nothing to tamper the fire that’s growing inside me.
“Escape first, fuck later, got it,” I answer, and a bark of musical laughter falls from his lips as he pulls away, placing my hand in his elbow and letting me lean on him while he walks us out of the beautiful house and into the warm Iranian night.
Jude
“Hold On” by Brooke Annibale
We wait at the stables that Tarl directed us to, our cover story being that we are bringing more horses back with us. It’s the way we will sneak them both back out of the country as well. Aeron has a plan involving a horse box and some new thoroughbreds, and I can’t fucking wait for him to tell our Nightingale that she’ll have to spend the fourteen-hour flight in a horse box with two horses. And Tarl.
Pain lances my chest when I think about him, about the way he didn’t trust us enough to help with his revenge plans, and that he was willing to leave me after all the years we’ve been together. It hurts in a way I didn’t expect, that he could so easily toss me aside when I know he feels about me the same way I do about him; that we were meant to be together. We may not have said our feelings in so many words, but we’ve never needed to, the understanding between us not requiring any explanation.
And I’m not sure I can forgive him for dragging my Nightingale into his mess, one that we could have helped him with and kept her out of, safe and sound. Plus, it pisses me off that I missed out on all the fun. He knows I’ve always played the evil Disney villain to perfection.
Maleficent eat your fucking black heart out.
“Why aren’t they here yet?” My voice has the hint of a whine, and I see Aeron grind his jaw. It might be the twentieth time I’ve asked, and he has accused me of being an impatient child once or twice in the past hour.
“He said around two AM and it’s”—he glances at his watch, also for the twentieth time—“one fifty-seven, so he still has three minutes.”
“He might need longer than three minutes, son,” Pops says, placing his arm around me and pulling me close.
He took having Lark taken almost harder than the rest of us, sending all the Tailors out to help find her as well as making arrangements to get us over here to come and find Tarl as soon as it became apparent that’s where he was. It also looks like he’s aged about ten years in the day and a half they’ve been gone. We’re lucky in some ways that they were together, otherwise, we were at a dead-fucking-end in trying to figure out who took them both.
“When has Tarl ever been late, Dad?” Aeron asks, checking his watch again as we look out towards the dirt road that leads to this particular stable. Pops laughs, sounding tired, so I wrap my arms around him and pull him into a tight hug. He hugs me back because he’s just that fucking awesome and never shied away from showing all of us affection, even his adopted sons.
“As long as they get here soon, I don’t give a fuck,” Knox growls, his arms folded across his broad chest, his eyes not having left the horizon the whole time we’ve been here, as if he could get them to arrive faster by sheer will alone. I wish that were the case.
We hear the faint rumble of an engine, and I let go of Pops, stepping towards where Aeron and Knox are waiting; by the only road to lead to these stables. My heart beats faster, sounding like a drum in my head as I watch the road so hard my eyes fucking water.
What feels like for-fucking-ever later, but is probably only ten minutes or so, a beat-up van turns the corner, headlights off and making a fucking racket as it trundles down the winding road towards us. It’s too dark to see inside but I know in my gut it’s them. This time, my eyes do fully fill and I have to dash the tears away as the vehicle gets closer.
“It’s them,” Aeron whispers as the van pulls to a stop, and before I can blink, he’s running over to it and yanking the passenger door open. I watch as he reaches inside, clearly intending to pull our beautiful bird out, but a shout from Tarl stops him. “What the fuck do you mean she’s been stabbed?”
His words spur Knox and I into action, going over to where Aeron stands by the open door, his face dark and full of thunder.
“She was stabbed with a knife through the shoulder and has been patched up and had a blood transfusion, but she’s still weak and sore,” Tarl says, and I look up to see his beautiful face set into a hard line, the edge of guilt making his brows dip low and his jaw clench tightly.
“You fucking bastard!” Knox roars, somehow making it to Tarl’s side of the van, ripping the door clean off its hinges, yanking him out, and punching him straight in his gorgeous face.Oh shit, this could get messy.I’m frozen, part of me wanting to stop Knox and part of me feeling like Tarl deserves every blow.
“Stop!” Her soft voice washes over me, tearing my gaze away from Knox beating the shit out of Tarl who is just lying there and taking it. I was right to see the guilt in him then, it’s what I would let happen if it were me who’d caused such an injury to our precious bird. “Please, Jude, Aeron, make him stop. Tarl is hurt too.” Tears make her blue eyes sparkle in the moonlight, rivaling the fucking carpet of stars above us. Aeron growls but moves towards the pair just as my father does, both of them pulling Knox off Tarl.
“Knox! Knock it off!” I hear my Pops yell, but I feel like I can’t move away from her. I need to make sure she’s real, that she’s here.
“Are you really here?” I ask, taking a step towards her, then another until I’m standing in the open doorway. She’s paler than usual, but she still looks fucking exquisite, and my hand moves of its own accord, reaching out. A sigh falls from both our lips when I make contact, her skin softer than I remember.
“I–I’m here Jude,” she whimpers, but my lips swallow the last of her words as I press them against hers, moaning when she tangles a hand in my hair and draws me closer. I demand entrance with my tongue and she willingly gives it to me, and at the first touch of our tongues, it feels like I’ve swallowed an entire galaxy, my whole body lighting up like the fourth of July.
“I–I thought you were gone,” I choke out between kisses. “T–the darkness came back, and you weren’t here to help make it go away again.” I can taste salt, the tears falling down both our cheeks, mingling together as I keep kissing her.
