Page 160 of The Blade in the Ashes
“Really?”
Her own eyes, an odd shade of pink today, misted over with sincerity as she inclined her head into a nod. “I hate that you went behind my back to free Camilla. And for a while, I swore I would never forgive you for it. I thought I would never find a way to trust you after you allied with the person who betrayed me and ruinedeverythingI cared about.”
My chest tightened with her confession, but her tight grip on my ribcage kept me from moving away from this moment.
“But I don’t want to hold onto that pain anymore,” she breathed, fingers tightening against me. “I realized that I do deserve to love and be loved. So now, I just want to have my friend back.”
My relieved laugh sounded more like a choked gasp. “I never stopped being your friend.”
“Good.” She winked, her gaze flicking to Clay over my shoulder for a moment. “And don’t you ever!”
She gave my hands a quick squeeze before allowing Clay to pull me into his arms. I leaned into his warmth happily.
That chasm inside of me shrunk a tiny amount as I took in an easier breath than I had in days.
“Well, isn’t this nice?” Nikolai dismounted the horse, holding a hand to his stomach as he did, before throwing an arm over Iris’ shoulders, the position oddly similar to the way Clay and I stood pressed against one another. “All of us finally here together. One big, dysfunctional family.”
Her eyes darted to his stomach and then his face, obvious concern on her features.
“I presume you’ve been taking care of my home?” Nikolai asked Clay.
“I presume you’ve been taking care of my cousin?”
Iris snorted, the sound soon covered by a cough as Nikolai gave her a wicked sort of smile.
“I certainly have been,” he answered Clay.
I stared between the two of them, eyes bouncing back and forth from his self-satisfied grin and the slight blush on her cheeks.
She certainly had realized that she deserved to be loved.
My brows lifted, lips quirking into a thrilled smile. “It appears I have some things to catch up on.”
We retreated into Nikolai’s room and it took no more than five minutes to notice that Iris seemed intimately familiar with this space.
“I’ll spare you the details,” Clay explained in my ear as we stepped inside. “But they’ve known each other for some time, and my instincts tell me we’re going to have to deal with him for longer than I’d like.”
Desperately, I scratched awkwardly at the skin under my nose to hide my laugh.
She buzzed about quickly, bellowing for a healer while darting into the bathroom for towels. A heartbeat later she returned, arms filled with cloths and bandages, and commanded Nikolai to undo his shirt. Our host watched her movements with a casual smile and an easiness in his eyes that seemed at odds with the way he carefully lowered himself to the bed, clutching at his side.
“You’re hurt,” I noticed aloud.
He raised a brow at me. “And you look like you haven’t slept in ages.”
“Sacrifices have been made on all accounts, then.” I shrugged, stepping aside as a healer moved into the room.
She took one look at the bandages on his side and began tsking at him, nodding at Iris as she lowered herself next to Nikolai.
“I suppose I never have to worry about finding another occupation with you, hmm?” The healer asked, pulling away the gauze along his stomach to reveal a festering wound. My stomach turned as I caught sight of it, and I averted my gaze.
The healer pressed her hands above it, her magic falling over his skin. “It will scar. Whoever cauterized this did an amateur job.”
He snorted, and Iris smacked his arm, her cheeks flushing a bit.
“We didn’t have many other options,” Iris explained. “He’s alive, so I’ll call it a success.”
Nikolai hissed as the wound began repairing itself, focusing his attention on Iris instead of the healer's work. “I will wear your mark on my skin proudly, little bird.”
