let it be known that the Council of Virzalla pardoned you.”
Jaxor didn’t quite know what he meant by those last parting words, but their meaning became clear the moment he stepped from the command center. Jaxor didn’t even remember Vaxa’an walking him from the council room, or down the hallways of the command center, but then bright, warm Luxirian sunlight washed over his body and a warm wind threaded across his skin. And the only thing that would have felt better than that was his rixella safe in his arms.
When the ringing in his ears ceased and he was confronted with hundreds and hundreds of Luxirians sprawling across the Black Desert, when their shouts and cries abruptly quieted as both he and Vaxa’an emerged from the command center, he understood what Duvira had wanted from him.
A young female near them—with long, dark hair and tired eyes—stepped forward, past the line of warrior guards that had held the crowd away from the doors of the command center.
“Is it true?” she asked, voice quiet, looking from one brother to the next. A hush rippled out from her words and Jaxor’s chest tightened when he saw the longing on her face. “Is there hope for us?”
Erin’s words from the trial came back to him.
All they want are answers.
Vaxa’an looked over at him and inclined his head. His brother might’ve been silenced by the elder council, but Jaxor was not. In fact, Duvira had encouraged him to speak, so he would.
“Tev,” Jaxor rasped, locking eyes with her. “There is hope.”
Chapter Fifty
It was late afternoon. All the women were in the common room, but Erin only wanted to be alone. She was hiding away, holed up in the spare back bedroom in Lainey and Kirov’s home, watching the twin suns’ light track across the plush rugs lining the room.
Hours earlier, she’d come back to the dwelling after Jaxor’s trial, numb. She’d told the women only the bare basics of what had happened and then she’d retreated. Kate had tried to bring her a tray of food earlier, but it sat next to her, untouched.
And now, Erin was tucked in the ring around the fire pit, her back to the cushions, staring out the window. There wasn’t much of a view. She only saw the mountainside, but the sunlight cast interesting shadows along the stone.
She heard movement behind her, heard her door sliding open. Maybe one of the women were checking in on her to see if she’d eaten.
Only, the back of her neck tingled in a familiar way and she gasped, turning her neck so sharply she was surprised she didn’t injure herself.
And there he was.
Jaxor, standing on the threshold of the room, unchained, and regarding her with an unreadable expression.
“Jaxor,” she whispered, immediately rising from her position and striding towards him.
A lump in her throat made it hard to swallow as she walked into his chest, threading her arms around him. Her hands shook against his back and she heard his heartbeat when she pressed closer.
The trial.
Sucking in a sharp breath, she pulled back and asked, “What happened?”
“I have been pardoned,” he told her. “Fully.”
Hearing it didn’t seem real.
“What?” she asked, reaching up to clasp his face.
The way he said the words made her think a part of him didn’t believe it himself. It was everything she’d hoped for. Even if it had been exile, she would have been happy…because at least it meant she could still be with her mate.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, her tears finally spilling over. “Really? It’s over? You’ll…you’ll be okay?”
He inclined his head. “Tev. It is over.”
The stress and worry lifted off her shoulders like they had weighed a hundred pounds. She grinned through her tears, her breath coming out quick and fast. And when she smiled, his lips quirked, as if her reaction to the news was finally making it real for him.
But then she watched his small smile slowly fade.
And she was reminded of her testimony. She was reminded of what she’d done, or rather, what she hadn’t done…which was be honest with him.
And that was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place, wasn’t it? The lies? The half-truths?
So, she said the one thing that she’d been thinking repeatedly the last few days.
“I love you,” she told him, her hands still clasped to his cheeks so that he wouldn’t look away when she said those words. “I promised myself that I’d tell you the next time I saw you,” she continued, watching