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After Etta left the room, I hung my head, trying to hide from Galanthia while using her as a hiding place. Whether it was shame or guilt wasn’t exactly clear. I just felt awful for the way things had transpired. I felt like I needed to punish myself.
Galanthia stroked my head. “We all make mistakes.”
“I’ve made a big one.”
“So did Leo.”
My brows twitched and my heart skipped several beats. “I should have been more careful with him. I shouldn’t have argued with him.”
“What were you arguing about?”
Leo gasped. I jumped to my feet and lunged for the bed, ready for action, ready to take on whatever threatened his safety. But when he settled back into the bed, his breathing went back to normal, and I was left standing there like a damn idiot.
Galanthia loosely held my hand. “Come on.”
I let her guide me back to the chair. I allowed her to take the helm. There weren’t many other options at this point, because I couldn’t sort things out for myself. I was a worried mess, much like the first time Mom had delivered the news of her diagnosis.
“He said I was mean to him,” I recounted. “He said he didn’t want to be around me.”
Galanthia rubbed my upper back. “That sounds like it hurt.”
“It fucking sliced me in two, Galanthia.”
“It sounds like he was hurt as well.”
I went right back to hanging my head. This place was terrible. This situation was terrible. Everything felt like it was tearing apart at the seams and there was nothing I could do about it. Useless hands held my head as I listened to the distinct rip of my world getting torn to shreds.
Some of my edges softened as Galanthia rubbed my back. She must have been giving me some of her power because it wasn’t more than a few seconds before I felt like I was normal again.
I lifted my head. I looked into her eyes.
“Thanks.”
She smiled. “I should confess that I felt everything you felt.”
“When?”
“Back when you lost Leo. I felt his pain as well. I used that to find him. His lifeforce was very weak and…” She swallowed hard. “…you were so furious.”
“With myself.”
She leaned on the armrest of the chair. “Please, try not to kick yourself, Xavier. You’re just one parent.”
“I should have made sure Leo had two.”
“There’s still time for that.”
Holy hell, she couldn’t have possibly meant that. “Galanthia…”
“Don’t think too hard about it right now. Understand that my protection extends to Leo. Always.”
No one else could have promised that and been as serious as she looked. Leo meant everything to me—and to hear that she would do everything in her power to make sure he was okay brought me relief.
It brought a lot of other things too. But again, those had to be shoved away. This wasn’t the time or the place.
Then again, there didn’t seem to be a right time or place for anything.
A hiccup dragged me from Galanthia and deposited me next to the bed. Leo had his eyes wide open, and his hand wrapped around the bed railing. I took his hand and touched his cheek, pulling his focus from the ceiling.
