“Don’t say it like that,” I tell him. “We’re lucky.”
“You don’t look so lucky right now.”
“Yeah, well neither do you. But we are.” I take a deep breath, let it out slowly. “We could be…” I trail off, unable to say the words.
“Dead, like Lia and Hudson?” Jaxon fills in the blanks for me.
“Yeah. And we’re not, so I count that as a win.”
He pauses for a minute, but then he nods. Sighs. “Yeah, me too.”
“Flint?” I ask after a second.
“You don’t want to talk to me about the dragon right now.”
“I know,” I soothe, running my right hand up and down his arm for comfort.
“He’s alive, if that’s what you’re asking. And currently in better shape than either one of us, though he shouldn’t be.”
“He thought he was doing the right thing.”
“Are you kidding me?” Jaxon jerks away from me, shoots me an incredulous look. “He and his friends tried to kill you on numerous occasions, then he pulled that stunt down in the tunnels that made everything worse, and you think he was just trying to do the right thing?”
“He was, bizarre as it sounds. And I mean, I’m not happy with him. But I’m glad he isn’t dead.”
“Yeah, well, that makes one of us,” he mutters as he lies back down against me. “I should have killed him when I had the chance.”
I hug him as tightly as my injured shoulder will let me. “I think we have enough blood on our hands right now.”
“You mean I have enough blood on my hands, don’t you?”
“That’s not what I said, is it?” It’s my turn to push away from him, but only because I want to be looking him in the eye when I say this. “This isn’t your fault. It isn’t my fault. And it isn’t Flint’s or the rest of the shifters’ faults. It’s Lia’s fault. She’s the one who devised this plan. And she’s the one who caused everything that happened.” My voice catches in my throat. “Did the shifters tell you? About my parents?”
“Flint told me. He and Cole told Foster and me everything—including why they didn’t trust the witches or the vampires with what they knew.”
“The vampires because they thought you might all be colluding for God only knows what reason,” I guess. “But why not the witches?”
“You aren’t a witch, but your family is. They didn’t think Foster would be able to see past the fact that you’re his niece to the danger having you here at Katmere posed to everyone.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure the danger here at Katmere has all been to me and not from me, thank you very much.”
“I should have figured it out sooner.” Jaxon looks tortured.
“You planning on having that god complex of yours looked at any time soon?” I snark. “Or are we all just supposed to live with it?”
“Wow. You’ve been awake fifteen minutes and you’ve called me a drama queen and now accused me of having a god complex.” He raises his brows. “You sure you aren’t mad at me?”
“I’m sure,” I tell him, pulling his face down to mine so I can kiss him.
But he flinches a little when my hand touches his scar, per usual, and damn it, we’ve been through too much for this to keep happening. I pull away before our lips so much as brush.
“What’s wrong?” He looks wary.
I sigh as I stroke my fingers along his jaw. “I know I have no right to tell you how to feel, but I wish you could see yourself as I do. I wish you could see how gorgeous you are to me. How strong and powerful and awe-inspiring you are.”
“Grace.” He turns his head, presses a kiss into my palm. “You don’t need to say that. I know what I look like.”
“But that’s just it. You don’t!” I reach for him and hold on tight, ignoring the pain that shoots up my arm at the movement. “I know you hate your scar because Hudson gave it to you during the most horrible moments of your life—”
“You’re wrong,” he interrupts.
I stare at him. “About what?”
“About everything. I don’t hate my scar, I’m humiliated by the fact that I let it happen. Hudson didn’t give me the scar, the vampire queen did. And the worst moments of my life weren’t when I killed Hudson. They were when I finally regained consciousness on that altar and realized I’d taken too much of your blood. That moment—and all the moments it took for me to get you here? Those will always be the worst seconds, the worst minutes, of my life.”