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"I'm sorry,"I whispered, voice catching and eyes squeezing shut.
"Shhh, dear one, it's all right," Laszlo murmured.
Our bodies were still fastened together, chests heaving in the wake of delicious wreckage. I tightened my arms around Laszlo's sweat dewed back to keep him from rolling off of me. I needed his weight, needed to hide beneath his wings until I regained control of my emotions.
His talons soothed through my damp hair, lips grazing over my brow back and forth in a steady brushing rhythm, muttering gentle words.
"We'll find him. We will, I promise."
I hiccuped out a sob and my weak legs slid down to the thin cot we'd set up earlier in our camp tent. I nodded against Laszlo's shoulder, but it was more for his sake than mine. I didn't know if I had faith that we'd reach Asterion in time, didn't know if I believed we'd defeat Birsha. Part of me was already wondering how quickly I would break in that man's grip once more if I was torn away from my mates.
"I should be confident," I breathed against Laszlo's skin.
He fell silent and still, and my heart bit and snarled in my chest, angry with myself for giving voice to my doubts. He turned us, one hand untangling from my hair to draw a sheet up over our cooling bodies, his arm wrapping around my back.
"Do you think I'd be offended that you're frightened?" Laszlo asked. My head was resting on his arm, one wing shrouded over us, and I forced my eyes to lift to his, my breath catching at the tender heat of his gaze. "Dear one, I am frightened too."
I puffed out a breath and a whimper escaped my throat, but Laszlo cuddled me close, his feathered cheek brushing over my temple.
"Conall and Hywel can think in odds and figures and maneuvers. I only know what is at risk, which is all that I hold precious and dear, all that matters to me."
I moaned, but the tight tremor that had seized me in the aftermath of relief softened and slipped away. I wasn't alone. I was understood. Somehow, Laszlo hadalwaysunderstood me.
"I love you," I said.
Laszlo's feathers caught my hair in their grip as he turned to plant a firm kiss to my head. "I love you. You are brave, even when you're frightened. You'rehere, my love, and you're not alone." I drew in a shuddering breath and nodded and Laszlo kissed me again, scooting down the cot to reach my cheek, my mouth. "The others are approaching."
My hands tightened on Laszlo's back, and I sucked in a deep breath, calling up calm. Hywel and Conall would worry and fuss and fill my ear with all their accomplishments and promises if I told them I was afraid. They would offer to chaperone me back to the castle. This moment needed to stay between Laszlo and I.
We were pecking and pressing at one another's lips when the canvas tent flap swatted open, boots crunching over grass.
"Don't hide the view," Hywel announced upon entry.
Laszlo kissed my nose and withdrew his wing, cuddling me to his bare chest. "Not everything is for your entertainment, love."
"Of course not," Conall agreed, smiling wickedly and combing his hair back from his face with clawed fingers. "But in this case, I'm inclined to agree with the dragon. The sheet's hiding too much."
They were whole, safe, and in good spirits.
But Asterion, a soft voice cried out in my thoughts. As if he could hear them, Laszlo slipped his fingers into my hair, soothing through my scalp. Conall's smile sobered too, noting my anxiety in our bond.
"Marius is out hunting," Hywel said, grinning with sharp teeth, tugging his shirt off over his head. "Picking off Birsha's sentries one by one."
"And Birsha?" Laszlo asked.
Hywel and Conall glanced at one another as they undressed, and worry prickled in my chest.
"There's no sign of him," Conall admitted.
I sat up, gasping. "He's not here?! But then—"
Conall lifted his hands, tossing his clothes aside and hurrying to the end of the cot. "Magdalena's been scrying and reading her cards and leaves every waking moment. All signs point to him being here. Asterion and the others almost certainly are. But it wouldn't be the first time he ran from a fight."
"And if hedoes?" I asked, trying not to scream.
"We are storming his temples at first light, putting the poor souls he has trapped out of their mercy. If Birsha runs, what will be left of him? A crumbling figure, weakened. We'll find him,mo chroí. And we'll make sure he doesn't get his claws into Asterion," Conall said, crawling up the cot. He ducked his head and kissed my breastbone, nuzzling his face between my breasts, beard prickling and tickling. "How are you feeling?"
"Feasted," I said, a little terse.
