Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 212

212 Flowers and Blades 3

Arya’s POV

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Lev and I spent the day together. Not in some dramatic way. Just… together. He followed

me around the house like he didn’t want to be more than a few steps away from me.

Sometimes he didn’t even say anything. He just stayed close. And every now and then

I’d catch him looking at me like he was studying something he didn’t want to forget.

It did something to me.

It made the grief quieter.

Not gone. Never gone. But quieter. Less like it was clawing through me every second.

Dinner that night was strangely warm. Maxwell sat at the head of the table like always,

calm and solid and in control in that Dragonclaw way. David sat with his usual half-lazy

posture, though his eyes were sharp even when he was laughing. Lev sat closer to me

than he needed to, his shoulder brushing mine now and then like it was the most natural

thing in the world. I still wasn’t used to seeing him here. Lev in Dragonclaw. Lev at

Maxwell’s table. Lev watching me eat like he cared whether I’d had enough.

At one point David started joking about Gail again, and Maxwell told him not to be

childish.

“Because I’m not raising you again.”

I nearly choked laughing at that.

Then Lev did something that shifted the whole table. He looked at Maxwell and said it

plainly.

“I want Arya to come with me to Blackbirth.”

The room went quiet. Not the bad kind. Not tense. Just careful. Maxwell’s eyes narrowed

slightly.

“Why?”

Lev didn’t flinch.

“Because I want her near me.”

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Maxwell’s jaw tightened.

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“Diana and Mary are vicious.”

Lev’s mouth barely moved.

“They won’t cross paths.”

David snorted.

“That’s optimistic.”

Lev gave him a look.

“It’s a plan.”

Maxwell’s gaze shifted to me then. Not controlling. Not commanding. Just protective and

wary.

“You don’t have to go.”

Something warm moved through my chest at that. The fact that he still gave me a choice

even when he clearly hated the idea. I lifted my chin.

“I can handle it.”

Maxwell’s brow rose.

“Arya,”

“I know,” I cut in gently. “But I can. You’re my dad. The worst they can do is mock me.

And I always have a comeback.”

The word dad slipped out before I could think about it. Quiet. Small. But it landed like something real. Maxwell’s face changed so fast it almost hurt to look at. Not soft exactly. Just… touched. David’s eyes widened and then he grinned like he had just been handed a

gift.

“Oh. She said it.”

I glared at him.

“Don’t start.”

He laughed.

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“I figured it out anyway. If you survived tea with those women at Blackbirth, you’re

formidable.”

Lev’s mouth curved.

“She is.”

Maxwell let out a small breath that might have been amusement or might have been

him forcing himself to accept that I wasn’t made of glass.

“Fine,” he said at last. “But you stay close to Lev. Not wandering.”

I nodded.

“I won’t wander.”

Lev’s hand slid briefly to the back of my chair, his fingers brushing my shoulder like a

quiet promise.

“She’ll be with me.”

The way he said it sent heat through me again. Maxwell noticed. Of course he noticed.

He didn’t say anything. He just shook his head a little like he was watching two fools

walk toward fire and hoping we learned how to handle the heat before it burned us.

After that we laughed more. It was strange. It felt strange. Like after everything, the

world shouldn’t still allow laughter. But it did. It was there. It came out of David in sharp

jokes, out of Maxwell in dry comments, out of Lev in those small rare smiles he never

gave anyone else.

And me?

I laughed too.

And for a few minutes, I forgot what I usually carried around like a chain.

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