Page 85 of Change

That still didn’t make it any less annoying. There was only one person who I wanted checking up on me.

She finally glanced up. “How do you feel?”

“Better,” I replied, and it was true. I’d never slept here before, but it did help. I would need a couple more hours of rest before feeling fully alive again, but this was the best I’d ever felt after going through a twenty-four-hour rotation.

Her face was pinched with concern and exhaustion. She might not talk about it, but I didn’t even have to ask to know. This wasn’t the time. But I could still press this part at least. “How doyoufeel? Honestly.”

Bianca had been fidgeting, tapping her finger against the screen of her phone, and at my question she froze. I didn’t need to clarify what I meant; I could tell by the deer-in-headlights look that she knew.

Her pale lips parted, and my pulse roared as I expected panic. It would have been par for the course, although I could always hope for something different.

We still had so much left to do, and now I had to fix the mistakes that the others had made.

But she surprised me.

“Not entirely okay, but better.” She’d returned my answer back to me, but it wasn’t sarcasm. Her voice held a measure of serenity that she’d never had before. “I like it here,” she said, looking measuredly around the grove.

It was this place, but alsoher.

Maybe Mu was right—I was underestimating her. He would know. Sometimes when I saw her—frail and afraid—it was hard to remember her strength. It was easy to be ruled by instinct, to protect what was mine.

Shewasmine, but she was alsoMu. That made her more.

Bianca was never meant to be contained. Spring was power, growth, and life—even if it was painful. I had no right to intervene with her growth, however she wanted it.

Remembering this would be the hardest thing I’d ever had to do, and, quite frankly, I wasn’t sure I could do it.

But I had to try.

My body felt lighter as I stood. I held my hand out for her. She tucked her legs under her, coming to her knees, and our fingers touched. “I like it here too.”

Bianca blushed and I pulled her to her feet.

She didn’t have to reply. The sound of her sharp breath echoed in my ears. I was hyper-aware of her racing heartbeat and the way her nerves electrified under my fingers. It had always been this way, of course, but the more we were around each other, the harder it was to ignore.

But I had to. Because once I started down that path, there’d be no going back. It was her physical reactions that I thrived on—even those she tried to conceal.

Neitherof us were even close to ready for that.

“Do you want to get a late breakfast?” I asked instead. “I know a place close to here.”

We could at least date.

Bianca’s forehead furrowed as her blush calmed. “Okay,” she replied. I could feel the tense way her muscles shifted in uncertainty—she was confused.

I wasn’t about to explain. We both had far too many skeletons hidden inthatcloset.

I just had to have faith that this time, things wouldn’t go unresolved.