“You’re okay,” I said as I exerted pressure. “The war is over.”
He panted harshly, sleepily fighting against my hold.
Finally, he breathed out—a long shuddering sigh.
He fell still.
I traced my fingers over his brow and whispered soft words as he resumed snoring peacefully.
Feeling exhausted, I climbed off him.
I fingered the ribbons in my curls. I’d found them in a craft drawer last night.
This morning, as I’d hyperventilated in front of the mirror, I’d placed dozens of them in my hair. Just because I could.
A rebellion against myself.
I was no longer the girl who liked pretty things, but I’d find her.
With my toes in the warm grass, I tipped my face towards the sunshine and stretched.
In this foreign realm, I was just a woman who could fly.
In a field.
With no plans.
This lifestyle was new for all of us. It would take time, but we’d heal.
Together.
Pipe hanging lazily from my lips, I turned and sprinted toward the back of the estate. I ran just because I could. No other reason.
My joints were still stiff, and my muscles were achy.
I didn’t care.
I ran to the stables and chose a pretty white horse. We trotted aimlessly around the estate.
A few minutes later, I crossed paths with the twins, who were also riding horses across the countryside. I blinked, unable to process the sight of them casually trotting like aristocrats.
We were living a dream within a dream.
Their heads were tilted together, and they were whispering to each other with forlorn expressions. Their features were harder, less boyish than they had been before the war.
We were all rougher.
When John looked up and saw me, his morose expression transformed into a playful grin. “Last one to the pond loses,” he shouted as I rode up.
He broke out in a fast gallop, and Luka grumbled but gave chase.
I grinned and spurned my horse forward.
Faster and faster.
Green and yellow blurred.
The warm breeze kissed my face, and I laughed with abandon as my stomach whooped with adrenaline.
Suddenly my horse reared back as a duck flapped its wings with fright.
I was thrown from my saddle.
For a long second, I lay on the ground, watching the fluffy clouds drift past as I struggled to breathe. My horse sprinted back toward the stables.
The twins shouted with worry.
I spread my arms wide in the grass.
“What the sun god do you think you’re doing?” Scorpius shouted from far away—he projected his voice like he did when he needed to be heard in the middle of battle. “Orion told me what just happened. What’s wrong with you idiots. She’s still healing!”
I looked up to find Orion and Scorpius stalking over the hill, still dressed in their silk pajamas.
The twins dismounted and ran to my side.
“Are you okay?” Luka asked as John checked me over like a mother hen. I slapped them away.
“I’m super fine,” I said, “I barely felt it.” My muscles screamed in protest as I tried to move.
Scorpius kept ranting as he approached. “What is wrong with you? Do you have any…” Blah, blah, blah. Orion looked at me with wide worried eyes.
The twins helped me to my feet.
I groaned as I flexed my aching joints, then I turned and screamed, “Run for it!” I ran across the hills clumsily, sore muscles protesting as I clutched my aching sides and laughed uncontrollably.
“What is wrong with you people?” Scorpius bellowed, and I looked back over my shoulder. Orion smiled beside him.
I laughed harder as I ran, the twins jogging up behind me. John was laughing with me. Luka shook his head like he was disappointed in us.
“It’s just a horse,” I yelled over my shoulder at Scorpius as I ran pathetically, unable to pick up much speed because I was laughing so hard. “I survived the ungodly. Of course—” I gasped “—I’m fine.”
Fine was a relative term.
If my laughter had a manic quality to it, that was none of my business.
My mental health was not my problem. It was everybody else’s.
“This is not funny,” Scorpius snarled as he gained on us, easily tracking the sound of our unsteady footsteps.
I turned around and flipped him off with both hands. “I’m flipping you off, Princess.”
Orion laughed at my nickname, and Scorpius scowled.
“He’s gaining on us,” Luka pointed out dryly as he jogged behind me.
John picked me up like I was a fair maiden. “I’ll save you!” he yelled dramatically and sprinted back toward the estate.