Torn (A Wicked Saga, #2)(98)

“You’re going to need more than a Prince Charming to wake you when I knock your ass unconscious,” Ren said with little heat behind the threat, watching Dixon as he curled into a little ball and promptly went to sleep.

Tink huffed and then laid his head on my shoulder. I was used to him doing that when he was much, much smaller.

The three of us sat there in silence, and I don’t know why, but I felt like crying again. I was such a mess. Such a mess. Maybe I just needed to sleep another two days. The knot in my throat was expanding, but there was something I needed to say.

“I . . . I just want to thank you two for not giving up on me,” I said, focusing on Dixon. I cleared my throat. “For looking for me and for caring.”

“You don’t need to thank us,” Ren said. “You never need to do that, sweetness.”

“For once, I agree with the loser,” Tink replied. “I already told you. That’s what we do.”

Tears burned my eyes. “Yeah,” I croaked out, pressing my lips together.

“You’re going to be okay,” Ren said, seeming to sense I needed to hear that, because I really did. He stretched his arm out along the back of the swing, curling his fingers around my shoulder.

Tink nudged my arm, careful not to wake Dixon. “Of course she will be. She has us.”

Us.

That was the first time I think Tink had ever referenced himself and Ren in the same sentence and had it not end in insults. Wow. Progress. Or he was that worried about me.

Tink was probably just that worried about me.

And that was okay. He worried because he cared and loved me. And even as hard as it was for me to believe and understand, Ren cared too.

Ren loved me.

Sitting in between Ren and Tink, I turned my face up to the sky and closed my eyes. I let the sun soak my skin and start to warm places inside me that were cold and dark.

I was a little torn, frayed around the edges, and it was going to be a long, bumpy road to being a hundred percent okay. And nothing was going to stop and wait for me to get there. Drake would be coming for me, or he would be going after another halfling. We had to find the crystal, and we had to stop him. None of that could really wait.

But I was going to be okay.

I was a halfling. I wasn’t the same Ivy from a few months ago. Everything was different now. I was different. There were places in me that were still cold, that were still full of insidious shadows, but I wouldn’t be cold forever.

Careful not to disturb Dixon, I reached over and placed my hand on Ren’s leg, palm up. I felt the sharp breath he took. A second later, he folded his hand over mine, and he squeezed.

I lifted my gaze to his, but I didn’t need to say anything. I leaned into his side, resting my head against his shoulder. I felt his body relax almost instantaneously. My gaze slid over to Tink. He was watching us with those pale, blue eyes. He winked.

I was not alone in any of this.

I was only a little torn, but not broken.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll be okay.”

And I was brave.



The Wicked Saga continues with the final book

BRAVE

Coming summer of 2017




Acknowledgements


Thank you to my team who helped bring this book to life—Kevan Lyon, Patricia Nelson, Kara Malinczak, R.S., Sarah Hansen, Taryn Fagerness, Christine Borgford at Perfectly Publishable, Stacey Morgan, and all my friends and family. Special super thanks to the readers, who were incredibly patient while I wrote the sequel.





About Jennifer L. Armentrout Jennifer L. Armentrout is the # 1 New York Times and International best selling author who lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Not all the rumors you've heard about her state are true. When she's not busy writing, she likes to garden, work out, watch really bad zombie movies, pretend to write, and hang out with her husband and her hyper Jack Russell named Loki.

She writes young adult contemporary, science fiction, and paranormal romance for Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen, Disney Hyperion, and Harlequin Teen. Don't Look Back was nominated as Best in Young Adult Fiction by the Young Adult Library Association. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV.

Under the name J. Lynn, Jennifer has written New Adult and Adult contemporary and paranormal romance, including the # 1 New York Times best seller Wait for You. She writes for HarperCollins and Entangled Brazen.