“You look like you’ve been through a wringer,” Jacqueline said softly as Phelan ducked into the small room where Thordin slept, pale and still as death.
“I feel like I was,” Phelan murmured, staring at his friend before his gaze flicked over to her. “Neve told a story today.”
Jacqueline arched a brow, silently inviting him to elaborate on his statement. Phelan closed his eyes.
“It was about Ciar. I—Jac, I don’t know how Marin’s going to be the next few days.”
His lover blinked at him. “What makes you say that?”
“Brighíd is close to the surface,” Phelan said, drawing a second chair toward Thordin’s bedside and collapsing into it. “It worries me. When I got there, I could tell that—well. I could tell.”
“You’re worried,” Jacqueline said, her fingers deft as she knotted off a length of thread. The patchwork of a half-started quilt was spread across her knees, a project she left in that room for when she spelled Sif in sitting vigil. For a moment, Phelan hoped that Sif would be returning soon. His own nerves were getting the better of him.
What the hell brought on that little storytelling session anyhow, I wonder?
Jacqueline’s fingers wrapped around his and squeezed.
“Fretting about it isn’t going to do you any good, now is it?”
A bitter laugh escaped him. “Probably not, but my brain isn’t exactly that obedient, now is it?”
“Mm. I suppose not.” She squeezed his hand again before letting go. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Not yet,” he said quietly. “Maybe later, after the sun’s gone down and we’ve eaten and Sif is back on watch in here.”
Color flooded into Jacqueline’s cheeks and she gave him a little half-smile. “Is that all?”
“You make it sound like it’s nothing.” Phelan leaned over, his lips brushing her cheek. “Right now, what you and I have is the single most important thing in my world. Nothing else matters as much as that.”
She stroked his cheek, callouses catching on the reddish stubble across his cheeks and jaw.
“Love you, Phelan,” she whispered.
“And I, you, Jac,” he whispered back. “I love you, too.”
