She paused.
“I…” He looked hesitant. “I was hoping we could talk.”
Keegan pushed away from the railing. “I should be getting inside anyway. It’s been a long night, and we could all use some rest.”
Stepping onto the balcony, Lina murmured a good night to Keegan, then strode over to take a place beside Ronin. Glowing ribbons of yellow cut across the night sky, heralding the rapid approach of daybreak. Given everything that had occurred this past night, compounded with the time difference between here and Romania, this seemed like it had been the longest night in the history of time.
“I feel like I could sleep for a week,” she murmured.
Ronin let out a hoarse chuckle and rested his elbows on the railing right beside her. “After this night, you deserve to. We all do.”
“So…I imagine you start your new duties as Council liaison soon, right?”
When Ronin looked surprised, she added, “Taeg told Maya about it, and she filled us in.”
“Oh.” He let out a long breath. “Things are changing, and finally for the better.”
She thought of Dagan. Of the time they’d shared. “Yes they are.”
Almost as if he’d read her mind, Ronin said, “Listen, Lina. About you and Dagan…I want you to know that I respect you and your ability to make decisions. Whatever’s going on between you two, I’m okay with it. I support you.”
“Wow.” She let his words absorb. “Thank you.”
He nodded, and when he started to push away from the railing, her next words blurted out of her without any warning.
“I wasn’t really mad at you, you know.”
Ronin froze. “What do you mean?”
“I know I seemed like I blamed you for leaving, but it was never really about that. I…I was scared to let you in again. Scared of loving and losing you all over again.”
His eyes went soft, and his hand rose to gently rub across her cheek. “Lina…I know.”
An old, constant tightness that she hadn’t even recognized eased in her chest. She let the breath flow from her lungs in one slow exhale. Maybe now that they’d defeated their enemy, she and her long-lost brother could truly reconnect once more.
Ronin gave her a boyish grin that was somehow so reminiscent of that young, carefree boy she’d once known.
“Lina,” he murmured, “I give my word as your brother, I’ll never leave you again.”
Never leave you again.
Such an impossible promise to make. No one knew what the future held. But somehow when he said the words she believed them, and her heart was all the lighter for it.
She began to return his smile, when Dagan’s voice broke through the night.
“That makes two of us.”
She stiffened and turned her gaze to the balcony door. Dagan leaned against it, his hands casually slung into the pockets of his jeans.
Ronin’s hand dropped. “I’d better go check on Amara.”
Dagan moved aside to let Ronin through, and to Lina’s surprise, Ronin clapped Dagan on the shoulder as he passed by.
Well, hell.
Guess he really was okay with it.
With Ronin gone, she was free to focus all her attention on Dagan. On the man she loved.
“Hi there, sunshine,” he murmured.
When he smiled at her, her heart gave a funny flop. If she lived to be hundreds of years old, she didn’t think she’d ever meet a man who could rival his rugged beauty. Even though dark shadows lined the skin beneath his eyes, they still glowed with vigor, and the five o’clock shadow that practically lived on his face was on the verge of blossoming into full-out facial hair. It looked good on him, though. Everything looked good on him.
“Ronin said you’d stepped out,” she said as her eyes drank in the welcome sight of him.
“Went down to our apartment to pick something up.”
His gaze practically devoured her. The intensity on his face didn’t waver as he strode toward her with undeniable purpose.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, unnerved.
He let out a hoarse chuckle. “Not a damn thing. For once in my life, everything is just right.”
Gods, she wished that were true, but it wasn’t. There was one big matter left unfinished, and she couldn’t put it off anymore. Not when Dagan looked at her like that, like the sun revolved around her.
Stopping in front of her, he pulled her into his arms and lowered his head. She pulled back before he could kiss her.
“Wait.” She took a deep breath and forced herself to meet his gaze. “There’s something I need to tell you, Dagan. Something I wasn’t entirely honest about.”
He frowned. “What?”
“I…I never told you the whole truth about Sara’s death.”