“If you collect the bones, Fox and I can come pick them up. We can fly them away as far as possible. Or bring them back to the rest of the dragon flock, hopefully breaking the connection.”
“The night before I plan to act, I’ll hang a white scrap above my tent. It’s the one next to the prison tent. I’ll make sure the scout gets moved, so we can meet beside the tree you used to signal me.”
“I’ll find it again,” Sofia assured him.
She pulled him into a tight hug. Ian melted into her embrace. He whispered something in her ear that Fox couldn’t hear, and he turned his eyes away, hating the seed of jealousy. It wasn’t fair to either of them. But he hated that Ian had known a part of his brother and now knew a part of Sofia that perhaps he’d never know. Not the same way.
Ian surprised Fox, pulling him into a hug after Sofia let go. He smelled of whisky and sweat.
“Take care of her.”
“I will,” he said. “Take care of yourself.”
Ian didn’t answer, pulling away with a stoic nod before slipping back into the night without a backward glance.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
SOFIA
The anxiety hit only a few minutes after Ian had disappeared into the darkness. The words he’d whispered into her ear sat there, persistent and so very loud in her own thoughts.
“He loves you. You should let him.”
The words weren’t a surprise, but they wreaked havoc in her mind. She’d been ignoring the feelings between them, convincing herself it was just sex—a distraction from the chaos to keep her sane.
But it wasn’t. She knew the look in his eyes when he held her in the darkness.
It was the look she’d never quite understood wasn’t in Gabriel’s gaze when he’d looked at her. Yes, he’d cared about her on some level. Their relationship hadn’t been nothing. But he hadn’t loved her. When it had come down to it, he’d loved himself more, and he’d thrown her under the king’s blade the moment it was convenient.
But Fox—Fox looked at her as if he’d place his own neck under the blade. And somehow, that scared her more. She knew how to handle selfishness and self-preservation. She didn’t know how to handle what was brewing between them. There were too many obstacles—too many unknowns. She was prepared to die in this war—she was losing faithin any other option. But she wasn’t ready to break his heart when she died. He deserved better than that—better than what she had to offer.
“We need to get back to the dragons,” Fox said. He must have said it a couple of times before she’d heard him because he looked at her with such deep concern.
She ignored the question in his gaze.
“Right, the deadline,” she said, brain catching up to him. She looked back out at the shadowy forest. “We can’t leave for too long. We need to be here when Ian signals for us.”
Fox nodded, running a hand across his face. She watched as his fingers traced along the hair on his jawline. He looked good with the beard. His hand stilled, and her eyes flashed up. He was considering her again, face puzzled.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “Just distracted. By the bones and dragons and everything.”
She wanted to jump into a snowdrift to wake herself up or to cool the red blush that crept up her cheeks. Fox studied her for another minute before dropping his gaze.
“You should take Chalia back to the dragons. I’ll stay behind to watch for Ian’s signal. You just need to show me where the tree he was talking about is.”
She nodded. She needed to get back to the others and share everything they’d learned, but she also ached at the idea of leaving him behind. Alone with the rest of the army.
Ian would be here for him. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Fox. Not now that he knew what Fox meant to her.
“I can send Jobin here to watch over him once we’re back at the nesting grounds,”Chalia said. She was sitting perched on the rocks above their heads, looking down into the clearing with a sense of knowing that Sofia didn’t like. Some thoughts were her own.
“I’m sorry,”Chalia said, and Sofia flinched.
“Can you read his thoughts the same way?”Sofia asked, not knowing if she actually would want to know anything if Chalia could.
“No,”Chalia said.“Only when he’s projecting to me. Your thoughts feel different. They’re louder and more persistent.”