She nodded. “I feel the same way.”
He squeezed her hand. “I love you.”
She nodded. He watched her swallow hard. “I love you, too, Thorne. I didn’t understand just how much until we were trapped with that beast. I … I’m so sorry.”
“For what?”
“For making your life a misery for the past few weeks.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. He kept his eyes closed and pressed their joined hands to his chest. When he opened his eyes he wiped her cheeks, one after the other, and said, “I want to complete the breh-hedden with you. I want that more than anything else in the world but I would never force you. Never.”
She put her hand on his cheek. “I know you wouldn’t. That’s something I finally figured out. I have freedom with you, Thorne. I have freedom with Endelle. She tried to tell me that the night you and Jean-Pierre busted me out of the Superstition Seers Fortress. She said she’d give me autonomy. I’d just never had that before and I honestly didn’t believe her, but I know I was wrong. Endelle would have kept her word. And you? In all this time, you’ve never tried to corral me. Not once.”
He leaned into her and kissed her very wet lips. “I love you so much. When we were in that cage together, it finally dawned on me just how much I love you—I mean really love you and need you—and how much wonderful peace you’ve always brought to my life. I was so weighed down with a sense of responsibility about everything that I didn’t see all that I’d been given or how well I’m supported. You’ve been a huge support in my life. I see that now.”
“Ditto,” she murmured.
He kissed her again.
She took a deep breath. “I want to go all the way with you as well, no matter what the breh-hedden means. Even if it means we’re joined at the hip.” She lifted up and moved into him, sliding onto his lap until he held her in his arms and she was kissing him. “Even if it meant I had to wear a stupid ankle guard, Thorne, I’d do it for you and you know why? Because I trust you. With all my heart, I trust you.”
He kissed her again but when she pulled back he said, “What is it? You’ve tensed up. A vision?”
She shook her head. “I guess I’m just a little worried about what the breh-hedden will mean, what it will be like.”
“I know. I don’t think either of us enjoys the unknown all that much.”
Marcus appeared in the doorway. “Hey.” He stared hard at Thorne, that slash of brows over light brown eyes. “Well, damn my ass, she brought you back.”
Thorne twisted to look at him. Marguerite slid off his lap and he stood up next to her. “Not sure exactly how it happened, but yeah, she did.”
Marguerite said, “Healers from Sixth came and brought Thorne back. Once he was safe, Endelle dematerialized. She was pretty upset.”
“Okay. Okay.” He nodded several times, but he swallowed hard. “Shit, boss … we thought … damn…”
He crossed to Marcus and put his hand on the brother’s shoulder.
Marcus released a rush of air then suddenly Thorne was just being hugged hard. “We thought it was over, all of it. You were so gone.”
“I know. I know. But I’m here and Marcus, things are going to change. Let everyone know. Okay? Yeah, we’ve got a shitload of work to do, but things are going to change.”
Marcus pulled back and jerked his head up and down a few times. He sniffed and flared his nostrils. He looked anywhere but at Thorne.
Thorne laughed. Marcus knew how to front. They all did.
“So what time is it? I mean how long was I gone? How long did this whole thing take?”
Marcus glanced at his Rolex. He shook his head. “Maybe forty-five minutes.”
“So Greaves’s little party is still under way.”
“Oh, yes, it is. Coverage on every channel, on every continent. It helps to own most of the mineral rights of Second Earth.”
“Is COPASS still holding to their position that they have his permits under review?”
Marcus lifted a brow. “Precious, isn’t it?”
Thorne nodded. “Tell you what. Why don’t you get the warriors back here. I think we have a f**king spectacle to disrupt.”
Marcus’s eyes lit up. “Hell, yeah, we do.” He flipped his warrior phone from his pants pocket, thumbed it, and shot it to his ear. “Carla? Get all the WhatBees to Endelle’s office pronto.” He smiled suddenly. “Yeah, it’s Gideon’s fault. We’ve kind of taken to the nickname.”
A few seconds later the men started folding in.
But it was Havily who, after arriving within seconds as well, made the most interesting suggestion. “Why don’t we film this?” She met her breh’s gaze. “YouTube? Or at least the underground.”
“That’s a fantastic idea. Why don’t we put Gideon and some of the Militia Warriors on that detail? That way, if Greaves wants to rumble, we’ll have more men in the field.”
And so it was decided.
* * *
Half an hour later Thorne flew at the head of the Warriors of the Blood, in a strict V pattern. Kerrick, Luken, Jean-Pierre, and Santiago were off his left flank; Leto, Marcus, Medichi, and Zacharius off his right.
He hadn’t at first realized that the light illuminating the space as they flew emanated from his silvery white wings, but so it did. Raw obsidian flame power, unheard of on Second Earth, connected to his woman, and to Grace, and Fiona, strengthening all of his powers, including flight, which meant he’d had to slow it down a little to keep the squadron in tight formation.
He guided the flight pattern just below the swans and geese, which had the dramatic effect of frightening the birds and sending them soaring off into the dark, cloudy night, their handlers after them.
Thorne smiled as he pressed on, covering the first mile of still-marching warriors, furious all over again at the sound of the masses of hard boots on asphalt. Heavy orchestral music thundered through loudspeakers positioned at fifty-yard intervals. Cameras were set up everywhere.
The most bizarre features was that there were no crowds, just an occasional stretch of grandstands that housed a screaming mass, waving flags with Greaves’s black, gold, and maroon insignia. At least six cameras surrounded each set of grandstands, filming the performers endlessly. Thorne didn’t know how they kept it up.
Of course, as the Warriors of the Blood flew past, the audience, in stages, recognized them and all the ecstatic cheering turned to silence.