For the next two months that was the rhythm, a steady cadence woven into the fabric of their days. Once Nova and Elle finished for the day, without fail, Jax arrived at their door with Cael at his shoulder.
They finished at different times, sometimes late into the evening, yet the men appeared with such perfect timing it bordered on suspicious.
It was as if they shared some hidden signal, some ridiculous sixth sense that tingled the moment the women stopped swinging blades or slamming books shut.
Unknowing to Elle or Nova, they were keeping tabs, lurking just out of sight with the commitment of hounds scenting a trail, pretending it was all coincidence despite being comically, painfully obvious about it.
At least once a day (sometimes twice), Jax managed to cross paths with Nova, armed with some hastily crafted excuse. A message that suddenly required hand delivery. A flower he "just happened to see on the walk over" despite the fact that the ground was covered in snow.
She slept in Jax's bed every night. His arms wrapped around her perfectly and tightly, like he was afraid she'd vanish. She had grown used to the feeling of his chest pressed against her back, solid and steady, and the gentle warmth of his breath at her neck. His kisses woke her every morning.
The matebond curled tightly around them now, humming with a steady, quiet need that felt like fate's decree wrapped in the world's most possessive blanket.
Cael and Elle were no better. They didn't even try to be subtle anymore. One day, Cael "coincidentally" appeared at the training field right as Elle was disarming Milo, wearing the expression of a man who absolutely had not been hiding behind a pillar for ten minutes waiting for his moment.
Another day, Jax "just happened" to need a book from the exact shelf Nova was already standing in front of, reaching past her with all the innocence of a cat caught sitting on the table it swore it never jumped onto. Again.
It was obvious.
It was also… adorable.
The truth hung between them like a banner, bold and flapping in the wind, because subtlety had clearly died a swift and embarrassing death. Jax and Cael wanted to be near them, and weren't pretending otherwise.
The four of them had become a strange, easy sort of team. A unit. Nova couldn't remember the last time she laughed so much. Or slept so soundly.
And Fin noticed.
More than once, he'd stood at the edge of the courtyard or high along the ramparts, looking down at the four of them talking like old friends. Laughing like they didn't carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.
His jaw would tick. Then he'd disappear, only to be seen again in his study or… with Meredith.
But even that was short-lived.
Meredith tried to sneak into his chambers again — three times— and every time he kicked her out with barely a word. The last time, she'd touched his chest and he'd flinched like she was the plague.
He didn't want her touch. Didn't want her lips. Didn't want her.
He wanted her.
Nova.