Forever Luna

astute

adjective ~ having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations orpeople and turn this to one's advantage

PHOENIX

I had not taken my eyes off Nova since Cors dragged her back from death.

Not fully.

I could stand beside her. I could keep my voice even. I could force my body to remain still while Apollo watched us with that poisonous satisfaction carved across his face. But beneath every controlled breath, I was still on my knees in the blood and dirt, her weight slack against me, Cors's palm pressed to her mouth as he forced life back into her body.

She was alive.

Breathing. Standing. Furious.

And somehow that frightened me more, because Nova's fury never stayed harmless. It sharpened her. It pushed her forward when anyone else would have collapsed. I could feel it in the bond between us now: the bright, reckless edge of her power gathering itself, preparing to strike back.

Every instinct I possessed demanded that I pull her behind me.

I wanted to put myself between her and Apollo, between her and the army surrounding us, between her and whatever consequences came next. I wanted to tell her she had done enough simply by surviving.

But Nova was not mine to silence with fear, even when that fear had teeth.

So I stayed close. Close enough to reach her. Close enough to kill for her. Close enough to let her speak, even as every part of me braced for the moment Apollo realised exactly how dangerous she still was.

"You have had decades to talk," Nova gestured towards Cors. "He has not."

Her voice tightened, her wolf prowling beneath the surface. I saw the strain in the rigid line of her shoulders; in the tremble she disguised by curling her fingers into her palm.

"I am going to do it for him."

Apollo's lip curled. "You arrogant little girl."

Every muscle in my body tightened.

The insult was deliberate. A dismissal intended to reduce her; to make her appear small to the wolves gathered around us.

It failed, though, because my love with much more robust than that now. Nova smiled, cocking her head as she let Apollo sit in a few moments of silence.

"Does this bother you?" She tilted her head. "Of all the people who could expose you, it had to be a woman?"

Apollo shifted his weight.

Barely.

Most would not have noticed it. I did, and so did Nova.

How his left shoulder reared, his only surviving hand clenching at his side. His gaze dropped from Nova's eyes to her throat for no more than a fraction of a second.

He was preparing to move, and I wasn't sure if my mate had picked up on it yet.

"Nova," I warned quietly.

Not because I wanted her to stop. Because if he lunged, I needed her ready. Her eyes flickered towards me, and in that moment, I knew she had it all under control. She understood he was ready to attack, but infuriatingly, she ignored the warning.

"You've spent your entire life pretending you're powerful." She continued.

"I am powerful." He sneered.

"No," she shook her head. "You steal power."

Apollo's jaw clenched. A small reaction, but a gratifying one. It was taking every part of me to hold my ground here and not tear his head from his shoulders. Ares already had a taste of the sour man, and he was just as ready to finish him as I was. But we held back because it seemed Nova had unfinished business to deal with.