His arms were warm, and he smelled of burnt amber. Tears threatened as his hand found the back of my head and he held me close, sighing heavily. “Al is trying to drive us apart,” he whispered, and I nodded, needing this. “He’s jealous that we made a stand and he didn’t.” He leaned back, smiling at the track of a tear on me. “I’m not going to walk away from you. I never wanted to see the elves destroy everyone, just not go extinct.”

“I know,” I said, voice wobbling. The “I’m not going to walk away from you” hit me hard. “But Landon does.”

“What Landon wants doesn’t mean anything. He’s not the Sa’han.”

I was starting to wonder if Trent was either, anymore. Maybe that was why he’d agreed to reopen relations with Ellasbeth. Damn it, he wasn’t using me, but I wasn’t going to come out of this where I wanted to be either. He couldn’t be both.

Jenks rose up from the carport, his dust an impatient red. I swallowed down my heartache, disentangling us and starting back to the front walk. Trent’s hand stole into mine immediately, and my chest hurt. “Thanks for coming back with me,” he said. “I know it’s going to be hard with Ellasbeth there, but I love you, Rachel, not her. This is for the girls, not me.”

For the girls? Yes, I’d put up with Ellasbeth for the girls. Somehow I managed a smile.

“And don’t worry,” Trent said, his hand trailing deliciously along the small of my back as we passed the untouched trash cans, “I won’t make you cook or anything.”

“I can cook,” I said, then louder, “I can so!,” when he arched his eyebrows.

“I’ve never seen it,” he muttered, and Jenks darted to us.

“Hey! You mind if I ride over with you?” he asked. “Jumoke, ah, he said I could bunk with him and Izzy. This is so weird.”

He was leaving the garden unguarded? I turned to look behind me at the destruction. Oh God, is it over?

“Bis is going to watch the church along with Belle,” he added, and my breath came rushing back. “He wants to talk to his dad if that’s okay with you.”