Page 12 of Elven Prince
“Yeah…” Nyx let out an airy, nervous chuckle. “There are a lot of people down there all at once. All for me.”
“It’s good to see you back on your feet,” Maxwell grumbled as he dipped his head.
When Rebecca shot him a sidelong glance, she found the shifter mimicking her posture, his arms already folded, though where she’d leaned against furniture for support, the shifter stood rigidly upright, feigning casual comfort.
Still, his frustration pulsed off him in waves. Though his words to Nyx were friendly and positive, the normal dark gruffness in his voice remained.
He meant them both equally, she knew—pride and gratitude for Nyx’s full and successful recoveryandthe bubbling irritation of yet another interruption thwarting his attempt to unearth Rebecca’s secrets.
“I guess.” Nyx’s violet eyes flickered back and forth between her Roth-Da’al and Head of Security. Then she took two more meek steps toward the center of the room, wringing her hands. “But I didn’t come up here to talk about the party.”
“A party which, by the way, we both would have attended if either of us had known,” Rebecca added. The side of her face tingled when Maxwell glanced at her sidelong, but she kept her gaze on Nyx.
Yes, Rebecca could speak for both of them in this. Unless Maxwell was supposed to have told her about Nyx’s party in the common room but had failed to deliver the message.
“Oh, I know,” Nyx replied quickly. “I’m not even worried about that. I know you’re busy. Ididnotice neither of you were there, which is why I figured I’d come up here to talk to you instead.”
When the katari didn’t continue, Rebecca tilted her head and tried not to sound too suspicious. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Totally. Everything’s great. No more infirmary bed. No more of Zida’s nasty potions. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep down any more ofthose, honestly.”
Maxwell snorted, and Rebecca caught a flickering twitch of a smile at the corners of his mouth.
“I just really wanted to thank you both,” Nyx finally blurted, “for what you did for me. For rescuing me from Harkennr.”
Really? All that buildup for a thank you?
“There was no other option,” Maxwell replied. “When we discovered you gone, it wasn’t even a choice.”
“He’s right,” Rebecca added. “And you’re welcome, Nyx. Though I don’t think either of us would claim to have done a whole lot of anything, really.”
“No, you’re wrong.” As soon as she said it, Nyx’s eyes widened, their violet glow flaring brighter in surprise before she quickly added, “I mean…respectfully, I guess…I disagree. Itwasa lot just to walk into that awful place and sit down with that asshole.”
Rebecca forced down a chuckle, always surprised and amused to hear the katari speak ill of anyone. Including her own kidnapper.
“And I don’t think anyone else here could have done what you two did and safely walked away from it,” Nyx continued. “I don’t thinkanyoneelse could have gotten me out of there. And I know how much you risked to do it. For me.”
Maxwell dipped his head even lower, studying her. “Do you remember anything?”
Nyx grimaced but quickly covered it up again, still wringing her hands. “A little. Just bits and pieces. Mostly, I remember all the weird flashing lights and the…screaming. I remember being terrified, because I knew something was wrong but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t wake up. Not all the way.
“Then the next thing I knew, I was back in one of Zida’s infirmary beds again. Leonard filled me in on everything else after that. Bit by bit.”
Rebecca nodded. That would have been a lot for anyone to hear after the fact, even under better circumstances. “We’re just glad you’re back. And if we had to do it over again, we wouldn’t change a thing.”
Maxwell sniffed and dipped his head. “Agreed.”
Nyx’s smile eased, the tightness in her posture loosening enough for her to finally stop wringing her hands. “Thank you. And I wanted to thank you too for helping everyone else at the warehouse. I mean, I know I didn’t have it nearly as bad as they did, but I do feel like maybe I understand a little of what they went through. I know it was a major risk for all the teams to go in there that night, without any planning or backup, and it…it just really means a lot. That everybody was willing to go in anyway.”
Maxwell cleared his throat and jerked his shoulders in what Rebecca could only assume was supposed to be a shrug, trying to play it off like it was no big deal. Like no one who’d breached Harkennr’s warehouse that night deserved any particularly special acknowledgement for their decisions and actions. “It had to be done.”
“That’s howyousaw it,” Nyx said. “But I honestly don’t think everyone would have made the same choice if they’d found themselves in the same situation. I just…”
The katari swallowed thickly and took another step forward before centering her luminous violet gaze on Rebecca. “I just want you to know that I’m relieved you’re here, Knox. That you’re running things now. This never would have happened before… I mean, no one would have risked so much just to get me back.”
No kidding.
None of this would have happened without Rebecca in charge. Nyx wouldn’t have been abducted in the first place, either, because Rebecca was the one who’d run headlong into Harkennr’s prison that first time. And Maxwell was the one chasing her into it.
