Page 122 of My Orc Has Big Tusks
“What?” I asked.
“I’m memorizing this. You, here, choosing to stay.”
My chest warmed, the feeling spreading until it reached my fingertips and toes.
“I’ll be here tomorrow too,” I said. “And the day after. And every day after that.”
“Promise?”
“I promise, kavresh.”
He kissed me in the doorway while Sofia sparked on his shoulder and the facility settled into night behind us.
When we went inside, I thought about my father. How he’d taught me that healing meant learning to fly differently, not trying to fly the same way you did before you fell.
I was flying now.
I wasn’t afraid of falling anymore, because Brovish would catch me.
We’d catch each other.
That was what kavresh meant.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
EPILOGUE
LAINA
We’d been together for four months, and I still woke up tangled around Brovish, like my body hadn’t gotten the memo that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Morning light hit the carved snugglethorns on the nightstand. Mine and his, sitting side by side. My tablet charged next to his notebook. My jacket hung by the front door. My favorite mug sat on the counter, the chipped one Dad had given me, positioned where I’d left it last night.
Home.
The word still felt new enough to make warmth unfurl in my chest.
Brovish’s arm tightened around my waist. “You’re awake.”
“How can you tell?”
“Your breathing changed. And you’re planning something.”
I tilted my head back to look at him. His hair fell loose across the pillow, and he watched me with an expression that said he’d been awake longer than I’d realized.
“My mother’s coming today,” I said.
“She is.”
“I invited her this time.”
“I’m glad you did.” His hand slid up my spine, settling between my shoulder blades. “What’s troubling you?”
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” I pressed my face against his chest, breathing him in. “The last time she visited, I was ready for her to leave by the end. This time I asked her to come, and I’m nervous.”
“Nervous that she’ll disappoint you, or nervous that she won’t?”
He’d hit it exactly. If she disappointed me, I’d have confirmation that nothing had changed. If she didn’t, I’d have to accept that maybe we were actually rebuilding something real.
