“Thank you, Melanos,” Terena said as she smiled at him.
Turning to Daris, she twisted her hand so her fingers threaded with his own. Terena called out to the others they’d be back soon and hobbled toward the entrance. Daris stared down at her and saw thetight set of her jaw. He moved closer to her, locking his arm to take more of her weight.
“I wanted to talk to you privately,” she said when they were outside. The sun was setting to their right, and when she turned her face up to smile at him, his breath caught as the last rays of the sun picked out the gold in her eyes.
He let her choose the direction, uncaring of where they went. It was quiet out and he was glad to be away from the others at last.
“I’m sorry for the way Croak is treating you,” Terena said at last. They followed a path away from the cave. “And Rydon. In case he didn’t apologize for whatever he said to you last night, I’m sorry. He can be a bit,” she scrunched her face up and waved her bad arm, then winced.
“I don’t mind,” Daris replied.
Terena’s brows pulled together. “You are not like any warrior I’ve ever known,” she mused. “What’s wrong with you?”
Daris laughed.
“No, truly. You’re quiet, you don’t drink, you’re the youngest Commander of the Liodari in history.” This last she said in a deep voice, mimicking Jason. She gasped when her foot slipped on the dirt path and he released her hand to wrap his arm around her.
When she was steady once more, she laughed. “Thank you. Clumsy.”
“May I ask you something?” he asked, his heart hammering beneath his ribs. “Do your visions…”
When her fingers tensed on his arm, he apologized.
“It’s all right,” she said after a pause. “What do you want to know?”
Daris pursed his lips, his eyes searching for the words. “Are your visions premonitions? Can you see the future?”
Terena laughed. “I wish. Actually, for the longest time, that’s what I thought they were.”
“And now?”
She shrugged. They walked in silence as he waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, he didn’t press her.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, tensing. She grabbed his forearm, staring off at something ahead. “Is that the cave Melanos spoke of? Let’s look.”
Daris’s brow furrowed as he stared at her, then off to where she was looking and saw a faint light in the distance.
Terena walked toward it, the sun so low on the horizon they were surrounded by a dark blue and russet colored sky. Daris saw the mouth of a cave with dim blue light dancing at the entrance. Terena flashed him an open-mouthed smile and reached for his hand at her waist, threading her fingers once more through his and tugged him toward the cave.
Daris dug in his feet. “Absolutely not.”
“What?”
“We’re not going in there. Come on,” he said and tried to turn her back. “We’ve been gone long enough. I’m sure your brother will come looking any second now.”
“Don’t be a baby,” she teased and pulled on his hand again. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Uh, we run into a crazed giant serpent?”
Terena laughed, and the sound did funny things to his insides. “Melanos said it was closed off. Come, now.”
The cave was not as dark as he’d feared. The antechamber opened up into a larger cavern with a hole in the ceiling opening to the sky, a small pool of standing water beneath reflecting the blue light glowing along the cave ceiling and walls. Terena stared, her mouth slack and eyes blinking slowly, her grip tight in his hand.
“Glow worms,” Daris murmured as he watched her wide-eyed stare taking in the tiny insects lighting up the cave.
He had to admit the effect was beautiful. The tiny pinpoints of light haloed translucent strands hanging from the ceiling.
Daris moved his thumb across Terena’s hand as he stared down at her. Thunder rumbled in the distance and Terena sighed, stepping closer to the water’s edge.
