I knew that by making this decision, to go back and fight to be recognized, our lives would change. There was a good chance we wouldn’t be able to have this time of solitude, where it was just the three of us, together. Ever again.
Tavlor cleared his throat and my gaze slid to him. I blinked. I didn’t want to be rude, but I had forgotten he was there for a moment. I offered him what I hoped was a polite smile.
He wasn’t jealous, but I think he wanted closeness with something. We were on our way to have that but it was different being a lover and being a sibling.
I shook myself. “You haven’t said how long you are staying for,” I said to him.
His eyes darkened. “I didn’t have a specific time frame, but staying longer than a day would not be safe in the current climate.”
I nodded, my stomach tightening. Of course. I wasn’t sure why I expected any differently. “So, you’ll stay tonight?” I asked. I hoped my voice didn’t sound too eager. “And tomorrow we’ll work out what we’re going to do?”
There was no way I was letting him leave without me. I loved my sisters, but I couldn’t wait around for someone to get me, to get my sisters. I needed to be proactive.
His gaze bored deep inside me, and I let him. Let him see my desire, my vulnerability, the beginnings of love and the deep respect I had for him. Let him know, without a doubt, how I really felt.
Then he looked away and the connection was broken, but not before lust had swirled through my body, tightening my nipples and making my belly melt.
I didn’t realize how badly I needed him until just then. I thought I could be satisfied with what happened between us last time, but that was a lie.
“Bella,” he said, addressing my sister. I blinked. Focus. It was difficult to do so, trying to shake his desire for me away from my memory. “Where is it best to study the texts, you have found?”
“Ah... probably my bedroom,” she said.
She glanced at me as though for permission and I smiled. She thought I didn’t trust her, when that was the furthest thing from the truth. I wasn’t worried about either one of them.
“Lead the way,” Tavlor said, and they disappeared from the room.
I shook my head to myself.
Courtney came over and whacked me in the arm.
“Could you be more obvious?” she asked in a low voice.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “In what way?”
“You guys practically devoured each other with a look,” she said. “He wants you so bad.”
I groaned, slapping my forehead with my hand. “Courtney!”
I did not want to talk about this with her.
She cackled with laughter. “You don’t realize how obvious you make yourself,” she said, and then poked me in the arm. “And I mean it. Don’t leave me out of the fight, Ava. I’m not weak. I can help.”
I grabbed both of her hands and focused all my attention on her. “Court. You are stronger than me and Bella put together.”
Courtney’s eye brows rose and she suddenly looked uncomfortable, as though she didn’t believe me. But I was telling the truth.
I continued. “If I can, I will have you fighting beside me straight away. But please... all I ask is that you trust me. If I tell you to hang back and wait, you have to. Please. You know I’ll only do what is right for you.”
She stared at me for a long time as though assessing my honesty.
I didn’t look away. I didn’t dare. She needed to believe me. Because if she didn’t, she was going to be combative, and that was a battle I didn’t want to fight on top of everything else.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “But just know I feel the same way you do, Ava. I’m not going to sit back and hide forever like Mother did. I’m not built that way.”
She began to back away and I laughed.
“I don’t think Mother was either, Court,” I said. The more I learned what was going on in the magic realm, what would have happened to her and to us if we stayed there, the more I found myself understanding her. I didn’t want to admit it. The last thing I wanted was to relinquish some of my anger because I still didn’t think what she did was right. But I did understand it. “But she did what a good mother would do, and she sacrificed her life to make sure we survived.”