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I resisted the urge to flip him the bird.
They were right; his protectiveness wasn’t going to change, no matter how many battles I fought on the subject. So I needed to decide if this was the ship I was going down on, or if something else mattered more.
I had the feeling something else would be more important. It wasn’t like I’d suffer from letting him carry me. I really didn’t have that much pride.
The fae started running, and I whispered against Zoran’s back that I’d rather be carried another way. He immediately moved me, tugging my waist down so I could wrap my legs around his back while he held my chest to his. It was a reverse-backpack hold, and honestly, it was pretty damn pleasant.
I tucked my head up against his neck, and he held me securely as he continued to run. “Thank you. This is nice,” I whispered to him.
He squeezed my hip twice.
Yes, it was.
And he continued running.
It wasn’tlong before we were making our way through rivers, ponds, and streams on our way down toward the lowest parts of the Aboa. Waking the Mother could be done from outside the Aboa by a water far with enough power, but putting her back to sleep was harder and would take too much magic to do from outside. So we didn’t need to physically reach her, but we needed to get close enough for Zoran’s magic to put her back to sleep.
Zoran didn’t warn me to hold my breath before going under the water each time, but he shielded my face from it the same way he always did, so I could breathe normally. It was thoughtful of him, and I made sure to thank him for that thoughtfulness multiple times throughout the journey.
We ran and swam through what must’ve been an entire day before I grew too dizzy and tired to keep my eyes open, and a glance at the others in our group showed that I wasn’t the only one.
“We need to stop,” I whispered to Zoran, adjusting my position while still wrapped around the king. “Other than you, the rest of us are in no position to take on the monsters.”
He gave me a small nod and then slowed.
I felt more than heard everyone’s relief, and a few quiet groans moved through the group when Zoran finally stopped.
We hadn’t chosen anywhere unique or particularly safe; just a corner where two jagged bits of wall collided. There was space on every side to get around the walls, but it still felt like a tiny bit of security in an incredibly unsafe place.
I’d felt the monsters moving around us the entire time we’d been down there, but thanks to my magic and the others’, we had managed to avoid everything that wanted us dead.
Zoran set me down in the corner and signed to everyone, “I’ll stay awake. You all need to rest.”
I nodded, too tired to argue. “Just wake me up every little while so I can check for monsters.”
He shook his head at me and signed, “I’ll kill anything that comes close.”
The rest of our group murmured agreements. One of the guys half-heartedly told Zoran to wake him up halfway through the night, but I knew without even looking at my king that he wouldn’t do that.
The damn kings of disaster thought they were above everything, including sleep.
And they weren’t entirely wrong.
I knew better than to argue with Zoran about my sleep or safety (at least when it made sense), so I curled up where he’d set me down. He sat next to me, but didn’t make a move to pull me close.
We’d slept next to each other every night when we were in the Aboa the first time, and then again when we were with the other kings and their mates after that. It had just seemed natural.
But after so many months of sleeping apart, it wasn’t natural anymore.
I’d quickly learned that I wasn’t a fan of sleeping alone, though. I missed having someone to sleep beside, even if we hadn’t ever snuggled or anything. It had been purely a friends-only thing, but I’d missed it immensely since then.
Despite my exhaustion, as the other fae began to snore, I found myself staring at the wall, unable to sleep.
After a few minutes, I rolled toward Zoran, so I was looking up at him instead of at a wall. He was already staring at me, and his lips curved upward just slightly when our eyes met.
“You’re beautiful,” he signed.
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling, and signed back, “So are you.”
