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Her mouth fell open, mortified. “I was?”

“Yes.”

Piper peeked in the door, as did Leif and Fennen. Thane quickly waved them off.

“I am sorry.” She pushed her hands into her hair and then sank down the wall onto the floor again. “I did not mean to wakeyou.” She forced a smile. “It was a nightmare. You can go back to your room.”

He dropped down in front of her once more. “I’m not leaving you like this. Do you want to tell me about it?”

A tear slid down her cheek and her smile faltered. “Please go. I do not want you to see me like this.”

He shook his head.

She choked out a sob and pressed her face into her hands. “Thane, please leave me be. My issues are not yours. You do not want to get involved, remember?”

As if her pain seeped into him, his chest started to ache. “Come here.” He took her arms and wrapped them around his neck, then picked her up, cradling both her legs to one side. Curling around him, she buried her face into the nape of his neck and quietly sobbed. He carried her over to her bed and climbed on, sitting against the stack of pillows with her on his lap. He stroked her hair and kept his other arm wrapped around her lower back. “Will you tell me about it?”

She sniffled and he felt the wetness of her tears against the skin on his neck. “It is silly. It is not even real.”

“It’s not silly if it does this.”

“I dreamed Atlanta would not stop hitting me. The children were crying…” she sniffled again and went quiet.

“Did that happen?”

She nodded. “And then he stabbed me, and blood was pouring down my body. That did not happen.”

“It did. He was just not the one who did it.” Thane held her a little tighter. If he could take her pain and anguish away, he would.

“Yes.” She paused, then whispered, “Thank you.” They fell into a comfortable silence until her steady breathing told him she was asleep. But he didn’t push her off his chest, didn’t let go. He held her until the sun rose and peeked through the windows.

With the birds singing outside she lifted her head and smiled with sleepy eyes. Even with messy hair she was radiant. “Good morning.”

He smiled back. “Hi.”

So much for not getting his heart involved.

Chapter 31

HEL

The dust alone in the forge took hours to clear. Then there was the task of finding a few hammers and other tools she would need. Even if the neighboring elves boarded the old smithy, robbers or young reckless teens had come in and taken what was worth the most. Valeen would have to replace them before she repaired Lightbringer. The anvil was missing and the stone pot to melt the metal in was gone too.

As much as he wanted to help Valeen get this place up and running, he’d already put too much precious time into this when he had pressing questions that needed answering.

Presco walked about the open room scratching a quill across a page in a silver notebook. “I think I have listed all the things we’ll need,” he announced. “Some will be harder to find than others. Are you sure we can’t just use the forge at the castle?”

“I need to do it here,” Valeen said, running a frustrated hand across the top of her raven hair. A smudge of dirt smeared over her cheek and strands of her hair were coming loose from her braid. Dark circles were starting to form under her eyes. She insisted on staying up all night to work on her father’s old smithy. But what she needed was rest. “This is whereLightbringer was made. I won’t risk this not working. Everything has to be perfect, or the shield will fall.”

Tifapine took a bunch of her gathered flowers and placed them in a blue vase on the old rickety table. “Well, I got something to spruce up the smell in here. It’s a little musty and I’ve sneezed at least ten times. The flowers were out back. I wonder who planted them.” She rubbed her hands together then rearranged the yellow and purple blooms. “And I borrowed the vase from Aunt Evalyn’s place. It’s only a few blocks from here. I hope she doesn’t mind because I didn’t ask. The place was busy. Nearly every table was full, and this guy kept yelling about the dice game they played, and it hurt my ears. I had to get out quick.”

As annoying as the little creature could be, there was something about her that grew on him. She talked too much and ate too much but was good for occasional entertainment.

“That’s great, Tif,” Valeen said absently. She was bent over the table looking at the two pieces of Lightbringer. Her tongue slipped over her lips as she concentrated. “I think I’m going to have to melt down the whole blade.”

Hel rubbed his chin. “Then it would be nearly a new sword. Are you sure you want to do that?”

“If I just meld the two pieces together it won’t be perfect and will weaken the blade. There would be bubbles and thin spots.”