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"Thank you." She gives a tight smile. "I will leave now. I don't know how much he's having any of us watched. I need to be back in my house before morning."
"Dalin will escort you out."
Dalin walks forward and gestures for Judith to walk ahead of him.
"After my swearing in, I will request a meeting. I look forward to a better future, for us all."
"As do I." My father bides her goodbye.
Even after she's gone from the room, none of us says anything. I look around the room, seeing faces that reflect my own thoughts. Is this real? Could it all really be about to change? When I look at my father, his eyes are on me.
"Can I do it?" I ask, harsher than I mean to. But the rage is still thrumming through me at all of this. How he used me saving Leah to try and be the spark that would set my world aflame. The reason he wants her back. The fact that all of this began with him tricking her, abusing her small amount of trust.
My father gives a quiet chuckle. "I knew you would ask first, out of everyone. And I don't blame you for wanting to do it, given the circumstances. But no, I am the leader of this village. It's my responsibility." He takes a deep breath. "For now, those of us with mates will return to them, and those of us without them can hope that the new president will make claiming them easier."
A cheer goes up and my father laughs for a moment before adding, "But we will still plan tomorrow, on what we'll do if this is all a trick, if they do indeed have bombs ready for us, we have to prepare for everything in every way we can."
That sobers all of us.
"If I do not make it back," he says low, "you show them all the might of the Grounders. You turn your mourning for me into rage and revenge. Do you all understand?"
"Yes," we say as one.
We all walk quietly through the tunnels back to our caverns. When my father and I reach ours, I can hear Leah's thoughts again, giving me relief I didn't know I needed as badly as I do until right this moment. My shoulders slump and then my father's hand is on the right one, making me look at him.
"That feeling right there," he says. “That peace filling you, you always remember that and be grateful for it. And even more, make sure you give her that same peace."
I nod. "I will."
"I know."
We walk in and he stops to take his sword and knives off, but I don't because Leah's thoughts leave me not even a second to pause.
He promised he'd be back. He promised. He'll be here. He would never break his promise. He promised. He promised.
She is clinging, desperately, to those words, to the trust she put in me when I said them. Worry, anxiety, dread, fear, they're all coursing through me with each heartbeat. She's curled up on her side, holding my pillow tight to her body, inhaling my scent but wishing it was me.
When I open the door, her eyes snap to me. A breath leaves her, appearing to all but collapse her chest. Then, she runs to me, barreling into my body with my arms wrapping around her.
"Kayo." She sighs.
"I'm here, Leah." I kiss her hair. "I promised I'd be back, and I'm here. Always here."
"I was so worried," she croaks. "My mind was making up a million scenarios of what could have happened."
"Anything other than me ending up with you in my arms was wrong."
She draws her head back. "What happened?"
"I will tell you everything tomorrow. Right now, we go to sleep."
She shakes her head. "I've been trying for hours. I can't sleep. Even with you here, there's too much rushing through me to close my eyes. Just tell me, is everyone safe?"
"We will be. Of that, I'm almost sure."
She releases another breath. “God, this day, well, I guess this night, has felt endless. All I want is to just be alone with you, to have those moments again where it's just us and the quiet words we share."
I am exhausted, but I know if she's not sleeping, then neither am I. I would never leave her with her thoughts wreaking havoc while I slept beside her, so instead of trying to coax her to sleep, I let go of her long enough to grab our pillows and the folded blankets sitting on a shelf beside my bed and link my hand with hers.
