24 Conspirator-ing

24: Conspirator-ing

When she entered the room a few minutes later, excitement lit up her beautiful face and secrets filled her eyes, and I had to catch my breath.

"I know you won"t."

#

#

"Why did you hide your art from us?" Ash tilted his head to the side, his dark eyes confused and maybe a little hurt.

Shrugging, I shuffled my feet and crammed my hands in my pockets.

"Yeah," I admitted.

I kissed her cheek and stepped back, and she looped one hand through Cole"s elbow and the other through Mase"s before steering them where she wanted them to go, Jay trailing behind them like a lost puppy.

Narrowing his eyes, Ash stared at me for a second, then scoffed and tried to give me a noogie. I dodged quickly, growling in outrage at the threat to my fluff.

"I do, indeed. If you didn"t have Granite, you"d have the scars to prove it."

Looking at her round face with its familiar lines and blue eyes that were exactly like mine, I felt the time had come to tell her something that had been on my heart lately.

"Thanks," I rasped, then cleared my throat.

Catching. Like how you catch a sickness from someone else.

#

"Hey, Mama." Ash leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Bridger was brave enough to stay with Rosebud all by himself tonight, huh?"

"How are you, Mason?"

"I never thought of that, but yes, a runt wouldn"t be able to keep up," he nodded, "no matter how strong and brave her heart is."

None of you is at fault for any of this—

I had to blink a few times as I approached the king and his queen, and I knew my face wasn"t as blank as usual when Luke gave me a sharp look. I ignored it and held out my hand to King Julian.

"It"s good to see you, your majesty," I said.

"Oh, how the Goddess has blessed us, my friend."

"More than we deserved," I murmured, "and far beyond our dreams."