“Augh!”
Chloe made a despairing sound, rubbing at her eyes. “I’ve been staring at the ground for so long that I feel like I can’t see things properly anymore. The locket could be right in front of me, and I wouldn’t even know.”
“Let’s take five,” Ethan said, and Chloe smiled gratefully.
They sank back down onto the old stump.
Chloe sighed. “I think we need a new plan of attack.”
Ethan nodded. “If it’s here, we’re not going to find it any time soon.”
Chloe turned to face him, her expression curious. “Do you think it could’ve gotten washed into the gorge?”
“It’s possible,” Ethan said. “The landslide area seems to go right up to the edge of the gorge itself, so it may have gone over the edge at the time of the landslide. Or it may have gotten washed down there by rain at a later date.”
“I think it’s worth a look,” Chloe said, sounding more decisive than she had since they’d gotten here. “At least we’ll know one way or the other whether it’s not there. I won’t feel bad about disturbing some debris that fell into the bottom of a gorge!”
She paused thoughtfully. “Do you think we should fly over the gorge first, to see if we can spot it? Would your pegasus be able to see it from that distance?”
“The distance wouldn’t be an issue,” he replied. “It depends more on whether the locket got buried over the years, and whether there’s anything to obscure the view.”
Seeing her face fall a little, he added, “But we can definitely do some flyovers first. Who knows – if it’s wide enough, we could even fly down into it.”
Chloe brightened. “I would much rather fly down there than trust myself to climb down. I may have had my fair share of dog bites and cat scratches, but when it comes to climbing, I have the hands of a newborn baby.”
“Duly noted,” Ethan laughed. He stood, holding out a hand so that Chloe could pull herself up. The electrical hum of the mate bond pulsed through him at her touch, and he thought that he would never get sick of it, even if he lived another hundred years.
He indicated the path back to the clearing, where there was space to shift.
“Let’s do this thing.”
Chapter 12
“Can you see anything?” Chloe called out, before mentally kicking herself.
He’s a pegasus, you fool. He can’t reply.
Still, the pegasus shook its head and made a sound that was clearly an indication to the negative.
Chloe kept her eyes peeled, looking down into the gorge as they swept over it. It really was quite spectacular, and any other day she would have been fully engaged in how thrilling it all was, to be flying through the air on a winged horse while an enormous chasm plunged to the earth’s depths beneath her… but right now, she was focused on finding this locket.
As hard as she looked, though, all she could see was dirt and darkness.
While the gorge widened farther down, the section near where Eula had lost the locket was dark and narrow – too narrow for the pegasus’s mighty wingspan.
So they were stuck flying over the top, Chloe watching the gorge intently for the tiniest flicker of silver while not holding out any actual hope that she’d be successful.
It was possible that the pegasus would have better luck, but she didn’t think its chances were great. The probability ofthe locket even being on the surface after all these years was shockingly low.
Chloe was doing her best to stay positive, but she had to admit that she wasn’t having much luck. It had all seemed so hopeful before they set out, but as soon as Curtis had disappeared, it had all fallen apart.
Not that the trip had been a waste, of course – finding out that she was Ethan’s soulmate had been a definite highlight, and something that she was sure she’d have to think about in more detail later, once she wasn’t worrying about falling to her death in the middle of the wilderness.
Right now, she was content with the happy buzz that ran through her at the thought of being Ethan’s mate.
And here she’d thought that yesterday had given her more surprises than she could possibly handle – today was certainly giving it a run for its money!
No wonder Kira had gotten so weird when she’d accidentally spilled the beans. It wasn’t the kind of news that you could just casually drop on someone.
