Page 117 of Iridian

“I already have more than enough power—just like you said.” I pulled the door open, walked outside and the soldiers followed me. “And if I do decide to work with Selem, you’ll be sure to hear about it.”

She called after me, Madeline, as if she really believed she had any right. She told me to reconsider, that she would teach me how to be agood director,that she would show me everything I needed to know about the IDD.

On my way back to my bedroom, I smiled, but not because I was happy. I smiled because I’d come to a point in my life wherenoneof what I ever considered to be worthy was anymore.

It occurred to me to go knock on Poppy’s door and see her—she was probably awake—but I couldn’t. I was too exhausted, too impatient to talk to Taland.

Too much of a coward to see the look in her eyes when she saw mine.

So, I went back to my bedroom and I sat on the bed, and I ate some food while I watched Taland breathing.

I tried not to think at all about anything—until he finally woke up.

Chapter 29

Rosabel La Rouge

I didn’t want to freak him out. I saw him moving his fingers first, then raising his hand to his face slowly, eyes closed. Because of mine, I didn’t want to freak him out, and so I thought about getting up and moving away from the bed, to give him some time to adjust to the sight of me.

Goddess, for a moment I wishednoneof it had happened. I wished I could just go back to the old me. I wished that Ihadgone back to the old me and I just didn’t know it yet because I was still too cowardly to look in the mirror.

Yes, moving away from him seemed like a good idea at first, except I remembered when I was in his shoes—unconscious—and when he was in mine—bonded to the Delaetus Army. I remembered how he, too, had stayed away from me when I woke up at the safe house. He’d figured I would need some space, but I hadn’t. Goddess, no, I hadn’t needed space from him. Not ever in my life.

So, I forced myself to sit still on the edge of the bed and wait for him to open his eyes. My breath was held and my heartbeaterratic, and then I saw the colors on him, the pink on his cheeks and all the shades of brown and black in his eyes.

Allof them, just like before.

Then those eyes fell on me.

Taland wasshockedto say the least, as shocked as I had been when I first saw him in that safe house. He sat up slowly, watching me like a hawk, taking in every little detail of my face, and finally settling on my eyes again.

Tears slid down my cheeks and I hardly even noticed. I waited and waited, stood still until he reached out his hand for my face, touched a tear with his fingertip.

Smiled.

“It worked.”

He sounded like him. He looked like him. He smiled like him.

My arms were around his neck and I was on top of him the next second, shaking as I cried and laughed at the same time, probably made it close to impossible for him to breathe. And Taland held me to his chest, too, squeezed me until my ribs hurt, but who cared? We were laughing and we were crying and we were alive together.

I don’t know a thing closer to impossible than this.

We took our time, probably wrestled each other on the bed for a few minutes. He was naked and mostly covered in blood still, but neither of us minded. He could take a shower later. Right now, we needed to just laugh together and keep touching and hugging until reality no longer felt like a dream.

So, we did.

“How loud?” Taland asked, looking at the soldiers stationed in each corner of the room, especially at Lind who was near the bathroom door we’d just come out of. Taland had showered while I’d watched, had washed all the blood and dirt off hisskin, and now he was wrapped up in towels and walking around the room, slowly but surely. He wasn’t even close to losing his balance, though he was weak. He still needed to eat, and I’d saved him plenty of food on that tray.

“Not at all,” I said, watching him closely still, part of me replaying how that curse had cut at his skin. I kept expecting him to fall on the floor again, bleeding, even though I knew he wouldn’t.

Taland turned to me, surprised. “They’re not pleading?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head, unable to keep that small smile off my face. “Will you sit with me and eat? I’ll tell you everything.”

He reached for my hand, and when I took it, he brought it to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “Lead the way, sweetness.”

We sat on the bed and I put the tray between us just like he’d done the last time we’d been in my room. Before this shitshow began.

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