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Pomona swatted his thick bicep. “You are so bad.” Famei gave a devilish grin as he tugged Pomona into his arms pressing a kiss to her temple.“I want my winnings in flesh,”he murmured softly. Pomona failed to suppress her grin, cheeks rosy with embarrassment.
I couldn’t help but chuckle, watching their exchange, admiring their closeness and comfort. Their trust. Theirlove.
I leaned to the side to peek around them to find Nakoa and Malekai still going blow for blow. All the lethal grace I’d witnessed in Nakoa with that horde of bandits, and the years I’d witnessed Malekai on a battlefield inspiring awe, fear, and respect from all those around him… had all gone out the window. This was brutal fists, claws, teeth, kicks, and body slams as if it were some no-holds-barred tavern brawl.
Val rushed up to us, clutching plants and vases in his arms.
“Have we all had enough fuckin’ fun here? Or did you plan on just letting them destroy the cabin I spent the last seven months building with my own blood, sweat, and tears?”
A rasping sound snapped my gaze back to the brawl to see Nakoa’s tail holding Malekai about a foot off the ground by his neck.
“Oy!” Lokus cried, “That’s fuckin’ cheating! You’re gonna cost me a hundred silvers, you dickhead!”
Malekai gripped Nakoa’s tail coiled around his throat and when Nakoa didn’t release him, Malekai willed a dagger into his hand.
“WHHOOOOOOOAAAA!!!”
Everyone yelled in unison as they leapt forward. Nakoa dropped Malekai like a sack of potatoes, glamoring his tail away.
Malekai coughed and wheezed trying to regain his breath.
Malekai’s eyes met mine as he continued to hack up a lung. In the same moment, Nakoa turned to face me. Both of them were beaten to a pulp with swollen, blackening eyes and split lips.
Pomona approached them both, already carrying ice-filled cotton hand towels, and handed one to each.
“Alright, lads, time to kiss and make-up.”
My chest ached looking between the two of them. It felt like it was only a matter of time before there’d be a brawl… I was relieved to have it out of the way and could only pray there would be peace from here on out…
I shook my head as Malekai’s earlier words sank in and liberated what I’d been suppressing this entire time. Recognizing that there was, seemingly, no other way without waging a war…
Maybe it was petty and selfish, but… Although I was highly capable, the fact that Nakoa had been so quick and willing to havemetake on the task of killing Zurie… All for his grand plan, which was also the only way to ensure my freedom from her wrath… Just didn’t quite sit right. Even though I’d fought in a war beside Malekai, and he had witnessed mylethalefficiency… He was unwilling to let me take that risk alone. It made me feel safe. Cared for.Loved.
The fact that Nakoa didn’t bat an eye about letting me run face-first into a battle against Zurie left me feeling…expendable.I knew that Nakoa was reassured by his gift of foresight and Knowingness, as was his mother and Miroslav with their gifts, but… As Malekai had said,…error and chaos.
There was always a chance it could all go horribly, horribly wrong.
I absently rubbed at the sore spot in my chest as Iwilledaway the broken shards and dirt from the potted plants, turning on my heel to step outside for some much-needed fresh air.
I reached for Val’s arm on the way out, guilt churning.
“I’m sorry for… All of this. I’ll replace whatever they broke.”
Val gave me a warm look of understanding. “Don’t you worry your pretty head, lass. It’s not your fault if these two can’t behave like civilized males.”
Chapter
Forty-Seven
NAKOA
Shame replaced the anger that had my heart in a vice grip as I watched that look of disappointment flash over Mareina’s face.
Fuck.
I drew in a heavy breath that felt like daggers going down as I looked around at the destruction I’d wrought in Val’s home. Pomona offered me a look of compassion as she handed me an icepack.
“Thank you…”
