Ajax promptly knocked him over, his hands ripped from mine as Ajax settled in front of me, glaring at Zayden on the floor. Once his eyes shifted back to me, he got a pensive, closed off expression as he rubbed his hands together.
“Emerald,” His voice was hesitant and soft, “I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t-” I lifted my hand, gave him a small quick smile.
“Don’t worry about it.” I turned around to tell them we were close to the mountains when he caught my arm, tugging me back towards him.
“No. I need to say this to you.” His eyes bored into mine, begging me to stay still for a second and let him get what was on his mind out. I adjusted myself, tugging at my arm, and he let go like he was being burned. That reaction hurt, but I didn’t know why. I was the one that tugged away. Why was his compliance making me sad?
“I’m… I was way out of line. We don’t have to brush it off just because we’re working together. I didn’t mean to push you like that. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that, and I’m so sorry.” He emphasized how sorry he was, how wrong he was, but I also felt embarrassed by my actions.
“It’s fine. I’m embarrassed by my reactions as well. I shouldn’t have let you rattle me. I know better than that and it showed me a weakness in myself that I needed to remedy, so thank you.” I don’t know why I said that, that was not what I meant to say, but that was the words that came out of my mouth.
His back straightened and his lips thinned as he nodded. I got the feeling that wasn’t the answer he wanted, but I also saw determination settle in his eyes. I turned to the others, ready to move on from this. “The mountainside is up ahead and then we can decide what we want to do.”
I walked in the direction I pointed. I could feel all of them following close behind me as we walked for an hour. It was oddly silent. Even Zayden looked like he was lost in thought. I felt like I was the one that ruined their fun, but I didn’t know how.
As soon as we broke through the forest, all of us stopped in our tracks. Several yards away was a solid wall of an unending jagged rock side, coarse and sharp with no vegetation on it. These were no regular mountains. We all looked up. It was hard not to when the bottom of the mountains looked so bleak. All you saw was the steep rock side going up and up into the clouds in the sky, covering the mountain’s peak.
“Well, shit.” Zayden said, as his head tilted towards the sky.Well, shit was right.
I looked down at the piedmont in front of us, and the sun that was setting. “I think we should rest here for the night and tackle this first thing in the morning.”
“What about the shadow fae?” Ajax said beside me, worry pulled at his eyes, but I shook my head.
“My father told me the fae have strict rules for their dead. They would’ve had to go back and either get more people or a wagon to transport the dead back to the temple for the burial ritual. Even if they picked up the bodies by now, they would still be at a much slower pace, getting back and unloading. We should be safe for the night.” He nodded, agreeing with my assessment. We all moved to the bottom of the mountain and started to make camp.
Soon, we all got settled in. We had decided that it would be best if we all stuck together, not leaving to hunt for food and such, only using the wood around us for kindling to make a fire. When I pulled out my bars Zayden paled at the sight of them but I shoved it into his hand. “Eat. This will help make sure you have enough strength to get over the mountain.” When he still looked like he might pass out, I amended, “You can eat half. That should be sufficient and not wasteful.” He visibly shuddered but his back relaxed as he gave me a wobbly smile.
“I don’t know why you have such an aversion.” Ajax gobbled his up, already half way done. “They are adequate for sustenance.”
Zayden glared at him before he looked at me, his eyes softening as he said, “I’m more of a sweets guy than a savory guy.” To be honest, I actually agreed with him that for eating for pleasure, sweets outweighed savory foods, but this journey was not for pleasure. We needed to keep our packs light and fuel our bodies with what they need versus what they want.
I gave him a small smile, showing him I was not offended, that I understood, then I pointed at the bar and his mouth, emphasizing that even if I understood, that didn’t mean he got to get out of doing it.
He stuck out his lip, making it pop out and look succulent. I wanted to lean over to the side and bite it. My eyes widened at that thought and I snapped my gaze back to the fire. I don’t know what took over me, but I almost did just that, right in front of Rykon and Ajax. I really needed to get a grip of myself.
As soon as we finished, Zayden yawned and Rykon’s eyes started to droop, so I told everyone we should go to sleep. When they made noise about it being too early, I reminded them we were already working off of less sleep because of last night’s events and we were going to have an early morning wake up to discuss and execute how we wanted to get over the mountains. They all reluctantly agreed.
As Zayden and Rykon were getting ready, Ajax walked up to my side. “I will take the first watch.” When I looked up at him, eyebrow raised in question, he smiled down at me, “I know you need less sleep, but you did the whole time we rested this morning. I would like to help with the burden. Not that you can’t do it, but because for this trip we are a team and a team shares the workload.”
I was stunned, not by what he said, but that he was right. I treated this entire trip like I was traveling like a lone assassin, doing everything how I was trained, but this wasn’t an assassin job I was traveling for. I was traveling in a group that was set on a specific goal. While my assassin training was helpful and useful, that didn’t mean that I needed to take on all the responsibility myself.
I nodded and looked up at him, trying to convey my gratitude. “Thank you.” I pulled out a couple of my throwing knives on my thigh strap and handed them to him. “If you want to practice.” When the side of his mouth quivered, mirth settling in his eyes, I followed with a tip, “For accuracy, the best throwing knife is balanced from tip to hilt.” I traced the knife in his hand. The pad of my finger was mostly on the knife, but also grazed across his palm. He closed his eyes for a second, a ragged breath left his mouth before he opened his eyes again and a hunger settled in them. My heart beat out of my chest at that look and I automatically took a step forward, being pulled into him by his eyes alone.
“Don’t worry about waking me up. I’ll naturally get up early enough to switch shifts with you.” I pulled my hand away and walked over to my bag, settling down onto the ground, trying to stop my heart from going so fast.
I laid down on my side, hearing the crunch of the gravel as Ajax moved to a position he could watch us all, as well as the forest line. We all said our rounds of goodnights and closed our eyes. After a little while, I could feel someone creeping up to me. I grabbed my knife and landed it on Zayden’s throat. He gulped, moving the knife with his throat as he said, “It’s cold. I thought we could snuggle for body warmth. That’s practical, right?”
I pulled my knife away, snorted out as I laid back down and rolled my eyes. He smiled at me as he laid down in front of me, looking at me in my eyes before scooting as close as he could, tangling his legs into mine before he closed his gorgeous eyes. I must’ve been lost in his eyes because I didn’t hear Rykon stir until I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“I need warmth too.” He didn’t wait for my approval as he settled in behind me, his arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me to him tightly. I could feel his breath across the back of my neck, Zayden’s, a calm, steady stream across my chest and something inside of me shifted.
I had a feeling this was a ploy to get near me, but I was finding it hard to care. I was enjoying the warmth they both provided and for once, I could feel the pull of sleep taking over as my eyes closed.
Chapter 16
Iwastwirlingthesmall light throwing knife Emerald gave me in my hand, trying not to be mesmerized by it as I stared at it. My other hand fisted, clenching every time I flicked my gaze over at the three of them all huddled together on the ground.
I couldn’t help looking at them again. Zayden curled up to her front, almost like they were sweet lovers in their own dreamland. Rykon behind her, arms wrapped around her tight, clutching to her like she was his to protect. My breathing came out of my nose in rapid succession, but I didn’t move from the tree I was leaning on. Not trusting that I wouldn’t rip them all apart and the agreement we just made said they could advance a casual relationship as they saw fit. I just didn’t realize they would jump on that so soon.
