Page 52 of Run of Ruin

I caught Ezra’s eyes, searching his face for any sign of discomfort or jealousy. He was quiet for a moment, then smirked.

“Yeah, well, if I was able to rip you off, you weren’t doing that good of a job,” Ezra shot back, but there was an edge of playful sarcasm in his voice that helped me relax. The last thing I needed was another fight to complicate things.

I had to remind myself we were still in the middle of this damn trial.

“We should keep going,” I said, stepping out from under Thorne’s arm, trying to focus on the task ahead. “We can reach city limits in a few hours if we pick up the pace.”

I began walking toward the direction of Praxis, trying to push all the conflicting emotions swirling inside me to the back of my mind.

Ezra was back, and the weight of the tension between Briar, Thorne, and me was thick in the air. Every touch, every look was making it harder to keep it together. I needed to focus, to get back to Praxis, before I did something I’d regret. Something reckless. Like indulging all three of them.

“Let’s catch our breath for a minute,” Briar suggested, brushing a sweaty strand of hair from her brow. “I could use a second to let my heart rate return to something that doesn’t feel like imminent death.”

“Yeah, I could go for a quick pit stop,” Thorne added, stretching his arms overhead with a grunt. “Ezra here body-slammed me into the dirt hard enough to knock the hunger right back into me. I’m craving some of that leftover squirrel from this morning.”

They peeled off toward a shaded patch beneath the trees and started prepping a small fire. Ezra and I lagged behind, and when our eyes met, the weight of everything finally caught up with me. I collapsed into his arms without hesitation, like I’d been waiting for permission to fall.

“You okay?” he murmured, his hands moving gently along my back, not searching for wounds, just reassurance.

I nodded against his chest. “Yeah. I promise. You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

“Yeah,” he said, brushing his knuckles across my cheek. “I do.”

His eyes flicked over my shoulder toward Briar and Thorne, and I saw a flash of distrust, and maybe jealousy in his gaze.

“They saved me, Ezra.”

His eyes flashed back to me, softening.

“Don’t let her fool you,” Briar called over her shoulder as she stacked kindling with Thorne. “She’s saved our asses more than once already too.”

Ezra glanced down at me, and there was pride written all over his face, unguarded and warm. “I don’t doubt it.”

His hand rose to cup my cheek, fingers brushing lightly against my jaw. For a moment, I wished he’d close the space between us and kiss me. Which was confusing. Or awful. Orboth, because not even five minutes ago, I’d been wishing the same thing about Thorne. And then there was the way Briar’s humming always made me feel safe, or the look Zaffir gave me back at the cabin. I was starting to feel a lot of very confusing, very selfish things. And I needed to get myself under control before I ruined this tenuous but special alliance.

“Come have a seat,” Thorne called, voice easy but eyes watchful as he sat beside Briar and gestured toward the fire.

Ezra’s fingers slid naturally into mine, and I didn’t resist. I didn’t want to. When we sat down together, I could feel the weight of their gazes, not harsh or judging, just… noticing. Curious.

“So,” Thorne said, with a glance at our joined hands, “You two an item?”

My stomach twisted, and I felt the air rush out of me. I didn’t look at Ezra. I couldn’t. Would he be upset if he knew how I felt when Thorne grinned at me, or when Briar brushed her fingers against mine as she cleaned the blood from my skin? Would he still care for me if he knew I’d shared something raw and personal with Zaffir that no one else had ever seen? I wasn’t trying to collect hearts like trophies, I just didn’t know how to stop needing the way they made me feel.

“I’ll protect her,” Ezra said instead. His voice was steady, grounded. “I care about her, and I want her to survive this. That’s all that matters.”

I turned, and the intensity in his eyes made it hard to breathe.

“How convenient,” Thorne replied, not unkindly. “I feel the same way.”

The two of them locked eyes, and something unspoken passed between them.

“So we’re all in agreement then,” Briar said brightly, breaking the tension as she turned the meat over the fire.

I looked around at the three of them, the smoke curling between us in lazy spirals.

“Why?” The word tumbled out before I could stop it, raw and unfiltered.

Their heads turned toward me, eyes sharp with attention. I immediately regretted the interruption. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I just…why me? Why are you all so focused on protecting me? What did I do to deserve that?”

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