Joy, brilliant and blazing and relief, //She said it,// ran down his spine and through his chest, sharp enough to almost be pain.

Not that she hadn't said it a hundred times this morning, the last night, with the fierceness of her protectiveness and every action after, but to hear her say it, mean it, without the fury and hurt loaded under the words, and her hatred just behind it...

He kissed her again, holding her close in against his body.