I ran into it, didn’t I?
It hit me in the chest, didn’t it?
Am I going to die now?
“No, you’re not going to die,” Yael growled.
My eyes flew open, connecting with his. He was walking behind Aros, his expression as dark as everyone else’s seemed to be.
Shit, was I asking those questions out loud?
“Yeah,” Siret answered.
I frowned, moving to clap a hand over my mouth. Only problem was, the knuckle-imprinted stone was still in my hand. Yael jumped forward, plucking the stone out of my hand when it was less than an inch away from smashing into my nose.
“Try not to make itworse,” he begged.
“That’s mine.” I pointed to the stone.
He looked down at the stone, his eyebrows arching. “Sure, Rocks. I won’t steal your rock. I’ll just keep it safe until it no longer presents a danger to your face.”
I nodded, once, satisfied. Aros’s chest rumbled a little, a laugh barely audible as we walked. I rested my chin against his shoulder again, snuggling closer. Blame the exhaustion. His free hand landed on the back of my thigh, holding me a little more securely. I fought the urge to wrap my legs around him yet again, but then decided that there wasn’t much point in fighting it. I was already growing attached to these sols. Maybe it was because I secretly wanted to be one of them. I wanted to be badass and superior too. I wanted to take on the gods and have a super-power. I wanted them to give me a nickname based on my super-power, instead of based on the fact that I was always falling over.
Or …
Or maybe it was all the near-death experiences. I supposed that could form an attachment of sorts. Whatever it was, I was giving up fighting it. They could kick me out of the group if they wanted to. They could push me onto my ass and leave me behind. But maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they would keep me and teach me how to be badass while saving me from getting killed by all the other sols out there who definitely wouldn’t appreciate my newfound badass persona.
I locked my arms tighter around Aros’s neck, pulling my legs up around his waist. The hand on my thigh helped automatically, slipping further down, near my ass, to hold me up. He stopped walking, his chest rumbling again. This time, it wasn’t a laugh. It was a growl.
I was wrenched away from him suddenly, passed into another set of arms. I wasn’t even sure if I had been stolen, or if Aros had handed me off.
“Not a good idea, Rocks, pushing a guy with a seduction gift.” Coen’s voice shot through me, pooling heat into places that heat had no right pooling into.Okay, what the hell was going on?
“He’s a big boy,” I grumbled. “He can handle it.”
That was probably the truth, but it wasn’treallythe issue in that moment. The issue was … couldIhandle it?
Ten
Iwas tryingto ignore a very big problem. It took us another sun-cycle to get back to Blesswood, and in that time, there was always one of the Abcurse brothers by my side. Usually it was because they were carrying me, since it was faster to travel that way and they wouldn’t need to stop for too many breaks. I had ventured off on my own for a few clicks, though. We had stopped for a few rotations to rest, and I had been busting for the bathroom again. Since all hell had broken loose the last time I had been busting for the bathroom, I was understandably wary as I made my way through the trees, trying to find a private spot. The problem was, the further I travelled, the more my chest began to throb. Very soon, it was too painful for me to go any further. The pain wasn’t as bad as it had been the previous sun-cycle, but as soon as I finished my business and made my way back to the others, it lessened.
When I touched one of them, resting my arm against Siret’s as I curled back onto the ground, it disappeared completely. I stored the information away, turning it over and over in my mind.
I didn’t want to tell them on the off-chance that they used it against me, but the need to say something was becoming increasingly more and more urgent as we fought through the trees back into Blesswood. It went completely against my nature not to push out of Coen’s arms and stalk away from them. I wanted to find Emmy and get my lecture out of the way before delivering myself to the healer,ifdwellers were even allowed to see the Blesswood healers. But I couldn’t, because I knew, on some level, that the pain of being away from them would cripple me.
Whichdefinitely was not normal. That went beyond the bond formed between people who saved each other’s lives. That had everything to do with Rau and his creepy smoke-ball of light. Still, Coen apparently knew me well enough to know that thenormalme would soon demand to be set on her feet, and so he let me down. I ignored the small pinch in my chest and started to stride ahead of them. It didn’t last long, because my dweller legs were super short. They had overtaken me in about three clicks and then I was jogging to keep up with them.
We passed into the back building of Blesswood, the Abcurses barging past other sols as though they owned the whole property, and me hurrying to dodge the stunned people who turned to watch them go. I didn’t know where they were going, so it surprised me when they burst right into the dining hall. It was completely empty, but the kitchens were bustling with activity, so it must have been close to dinner time. They sat around their table and I hovered behind, absolutelydespisingthis new dynamic where I was just forced to follow them around like a lost little cub.
Siret noticed me still standing there and moved over a seat, holding out the chair between him and Aros. I shook my head. He reached over to me, gripping my forearm and dragging me into the chair. I landed heavily, a sighing grumble sounding in the back of my throat. I needed to convince one of them to take me to a healer. Something needed to be done about this forced co-dependency.
“You going to enrol me in classes, too?” I asked Siret, my tone dry and slightly annoyed.
He smirked, turning on me. “What? You don’t want to be one of us, dirt-dweller?”
I scowled, narrowing my eyes at him. “No.”Yes.
He shook his head at me. “Make up your mind.”
