I remind myself that I don’t owe Gabe anything. I made that boundary abundantly clear. Friends only—that’s all I can give him.
But maybe there’s a chance I could be more with Kalden. The physical tension is certainly there. And he has this way of stripping my façade bare, seeing straight into the core of my flaws and hopes. If only he’d allow me to do the same.
Kalden peers over my shoulder, getting one last look at the unobstructed sunrise.
“You know, I forgot to ask earlier about when you’d gotten a chance to see the sun before.” I comb my fingers through my mussed hair, attempting to tame it. “Was it when you were a guard back in Scuros?”
The hint of a smile fades from Kalden’s lips, and a haunted coldness flickers behind his blazing irises.
Shoulders slumping forward, I wish I could take back the question. I should’ve known this is a sensitive topic for him, especially if I’m right in my assumption that those scars along his torso and back are from his time in service.
“I’m sorry.” I dip my flushed face. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
Kalden shakes his head, then sighs. “I wasn’t?—”
Screams interrupt whatever he’s about to say.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Shadows’mercy,” I breathe, following Kalden, who’s already a blur at the base of the hill.
I place the wired rings attached to my cuffs around both middle fingers and clench, releasing the folded nightstone blades. Before I dart beneath the forest’s canopy, I slice through my leather gloves at an angle to avoid nicking my skin, just as Kalden instructed. Leaning forward, I sprint into the trees as the buzz of energy awakens in my palms.
Unlike Gem and Gabe, Kalden doesn’t bother with reducing his speed to match mine. I’m unsure whether it’s because my safety isn’t a priority for him, or because he trusts I’m capable of defending myself, thanks to his lessons. I tell myself it’s the latter as he disappears from view.
I find I don’t need to see Kalden to know which path to take. There’s a magnetic pull on my senses, guiding me forward. I suppose I should question it, but I don’t. There’s no time for doubts.
More shouts come from up ahead, louder now that I’m getting closer. It isn’t until I pass my earlier bathing spot that I remember I left my helmet at our campsite.
Maybe they won’t notice.
The logical side of my brain scoffs at my naïveté. I’m basically a human lantern. They’re going to notice. And the cameras will, too. Which means I’ll never get to return home, even if I survive the Hunt.
When I breach the meadow’s edge, something round and black launches towards me. I flinch, deflecting it with my arms. The object whacks against my forearms before falling to the ground. I jump away from it.
Kalden, who’s running towards me, shouts, “Put it on!”
On second look, I realize it’s my helmet. As I dart out of the camera’s range, Kalden fastens his own headgear, the tiny suns of his irises fully concealed by the deep tint of the polarized lens.
“The cameras are off,” he explains, tapping above his brow bone. “Idisabled them with a targeted solar flare, along with the sensor.”
I hadn’t considered that was possible.
“Thanks,” I say a few seconds too late as Kalden abandons me once again, sprinting back through the trees.
“Orelle?” Gem calls from nearby. “Orelle!”
The swelling within my chest strains when Gem appears on the opposite side of the clearing, her nightstone poniard at the ready. I finish tugging on my helmet as quickly as I can, praying to the shadows that she was too far away to see the evidence of my treason.
Gem’s sprint falters for a split second, and the knot above my heart grows, but I don’t let it stop me from running towards her and wrapping her in a hug. I keep it short, giving her shoulders a squeeze and pulling back almost immediately.
“Thank the darkness you’re okay!”
“Where were you?!” Gem speaks over me. Her helmet blocks her features, but I imagine concern pinches between her brows.
The tangy odor of blood and gore assaults my senses. ForgettingGem’s question, my attention drops to the rumpled grass, where three bodies lay, unmoving.
The first is sprawled on her side, hand stretching for the rapier just out of reach. Coppery red hair juts out from the bottom of her helmet, identifying the fallen soldier as Faron.
