Chapter 126: A Little Bit

Elara’s lips parted, but nothing came out. For several long seconds, the only sound in the room came from the shallow breaths she forced through a chest that refused to expand properly, while Jaxir watched her without moving and let the silence stretch between them.

The pressure around her had become dense enough that even the others shifted in their seats, yet none of them seemed willing to be the first person to speak.

Her eyes stayed locked on his, and Jaxir could see the moment fear turned into anger beneath them.

Elara’s hands trembled at her sides before she folded her arms across her chest, gripping herself hard enough to hide most of it, then raised her chin as though stubbornness alone could keep her upright.

"Am I wrong? Kill me if you want, but am I wrong?"

Jaxir’s expression barely changed. What bothered him wasn’t even the accusation itself. He still didn’t know what Elara thought he had done to Jahbri, but the certainty behind it made something cold settle deeper inside him.

He stared at her for another few seconds before the pressure vanished, then pushed himself out of his chair and walked toward the door without giving her an answer.

"Jaxir?" Niri scrambled out of her seat before he had crossed half the room, nearly catching her foot on the leg of the chair in her hurry to follow him.

Jaxir didn’t slow down, but he heard her smaller footsteps fall into rhythm behind his as he left the room and continued down the hall. Behind them, nobody called after him.

Nick almost did, then stopped himself before the first word left his mouth. He had spent the better part of this meeting hiding what had been bothering him from Jaxir, so running after the guy now and demanding that he explain himself would have made him a hypocrite on top of everything else.

More importantly, the way the entire conversation had shifted after Jahbri’s name came up told him there was something here worth understanding first.

The door had barely closed before every member of Elara’s team turned toward her, and the looks on their faces made her defensive posture tighten. They had dealt with her starting arguments before, had cleaned up more than one mess after she pretended restraint was something only other people had to practice, but this time none of them looked interested in indulging her.

One of the men nearest her shook his head and muttered, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"What?" Elara snapped, though some of the strength had gone out of her voice now that Jaxir was gone. "I told him the truth, and if none of you have the nerve to say it then that’s your problem. I’m not going to sit here and pretend—"

"You don’t get to talk about somebody else’s relationship like that," another member cut in, his frown deepening while Elara’s mouth tightened. "Especially not when you barely know what happened between them, and especially not when we travelled all the way over here specifically because we needed to meet him. What exactly are we supposed to do now?"

That finally quieted her, though resentment still burned across her face as she looked away. The Commander remained silent for a moment longer, his jaw working while his gaze lingered on the doorway Jaxir had disappeared through, then he turned toward the screen where Lue was still watching.

"You know him better than any of us here, so tell me plainly, is this a deal breaker?"

Lue rubbed both hands over his face before leaning back in his chair, and the exhaustion in his expression did nothing to reassure them.

"Jahbri has always been Jaxir’s reverse scale, and I mean always, so once she’s involved I can’t tell you what he’ll do. He might cool down in ten minutes, or he might decide none of you exist anymore, and both sound about equally possible to me."

The Commander’s frown deepened, but he gave a slow nod as though he had expected nothing better.

"Speak to him for us, please, because what’s coming is too important for us to lose this opportunity over one stupid comment. This could be good for him too, and I don’t want this ending before we’ve even explained why we came."

Nick pushed himself out of his chair before Lue could answer, then looked across the room at Elara with an expression that had soured further with every word.

"I really can’t stand pretty women. All of you are so self-fucking-centered that you only know how to look at the world from your own pretty little perches. Fuck you."

He raised his middle finger before turning toward the door, and Elara’s face flushed so fast that Nick almost admired the efficiency of it.

"You little—" she began, already standing toward him with enough anger in her eyes to start another argument.

The Commander slammed a hand against the table before she could get another word out.

"That’s enough!" His voice cracked through the room hard enough that Elara froze where she stood, while every other conversation died with it. "One more word and you’re kicked off the team. I don’t care how valuable a healer is."

Elara’s eyes reddened, but whatever she wanted to throw back at him stayed behind clenched teeth as she lowered her head.

The Commander watched his daughter for another moment before turning away with a grunt, and even Nick could tell from the man’s face that he knew exactly where part of the blame belonged. He had let too much slide for too long, and Elara had grown accustomed to believing every thought that crossed her mind deserved an audience.

...

By the time Nick left the room, Jaxir had already made it through the building and found the nearest way onto the roof. He hadn’t chosen the place for any particular reason beyond wanting air and distance, but once he stretched out across the warm surface with his hands folded behind his head, the open sky gave him quite the nice view to look at.

Niri had followed him through every turn without asking a single question, then dropped beside him and copied his position so precisely that even the angle of her elbows almost matched his.

Jaxir glanced sideways at her and felt some of the tension leave his jaw despite himself. She stared up at the sky with the severe concentration of someone performing an important task, her little hands tucked beneath her head and one ankle crossed over the other after noticing his were arranged that way too.

She really was too adorable.

He still hadn’t decided what Elara’s words meant, and every time he followed the thought toward Jahbri, the same old pressure began building behind his ribs. There were too many years sitting behind that name, too many things he still didn’t understand and even more that he had spent a long time making sure he never had to understand.

Elara knowing Jahbri was already strange enough, but talking about him ruining her life with that kind of certainty was something else entirely.

The roof access door scraped open behind him, and Jaxir didn’t bother turning his head when familiar footsteps crossed toward them. Nick lowered himself onto the roof a few feet away, looked from Jaxir to the miniature copy lying beside him, then grinned as though the room downstairs hadn’t nearly turned into a crime scene ten minutes earlier.

Jaxir could already tell from that grin that whatever came out of his mouth was going to be irritating.

"So your ex is number one on the beauty rankings, huh?" Nick leaned back on his hands, enjoying Jaxir’s slowly narrowing eyes far too much. "I guess you do have a little bit of game after all."