It hurt to think how Gedeon had slowly opened up while Zion had been an open book from the beginning. How Gedeon had used to spin me around in every room, kiss my forehead, and push me into Zion’s arms so he could lick my nose.
How now seeing them together made my pulse roar in my veins.
Slipping on grass glittering from dew, Gedeon lurched forward?—
Zion jumped on the opportunity to deposit the wreath on Gedeon’s head.
The flowers forming the circle were reminiscent of the yellow oleander I’d planned on using to poison the seven people forming Ilasall’s government.
Before Gedeon could wave off the decoration, Zion declared, “I’m calling in my favor!” He doubled over, the mirth shaking his shoulders the most addictive melody I’d ever heard.
Although Gedeon emanated one of the death glares he’d perfected a long time ago from his every pore, he didn’t try toremove the headdress adorning his tumble of dark waves. “Are you sure this is how you want to claim it?”
“Nothing could top this.” Zion nudged Gedeon’s shoulder as the two of them neared our group. “So yes, a hundred times yes.”
Jayla gave a once-over to Gedeon. “Well, don’t you look lovely?”
Sniffling and pretending to wipe his tears away, Zion collapsed on the navy blanket to my left. “He’s the prettiest.”
Gedeon rolled his eyes, and I couldn’t contain my mirth any longer. The man brooding had latched its claws in, lowering his guard enough to discover a new way to express his irritation.
It was undeniable—Gedeon was the deepest feeling man alive.
Sure, he tended to either overtly state his intentions or to conceal them from those closest to him when overcome with fear. But the probability of loss was his greatest adversary, so terrifying he would sacrifice himself to give a better chance to Zion and me.
Except he seemingly never pondered how his silence-backed actions affected us. Not so much Zion as he’d starved for Gedeon for far too long, but my trust was a fragile thing: once squashed down, it grew unwilling to spring back up like a reed plant after a storm.
“I’ll be nice to you today.” Tarri extended her slender arm toward Gedeon, her pale pink sweater falling off her bony shoulder. “I can take the wreath and give it to someone else.”
The firm set of his thick lips was the total opposite of the soft, resigned “No.”
Chuckles rounded our group, much to his chagrin.
As one could expect, Gedeon didn’t wait before changing the subject. “We’re moving up the date.”
Taking the empty water bottle from Jayla, Ava stuffed it into her backpack. “Striking Ilasall?”
As he gave a nod, the crown of flowers slipped down his forehead. Resettling the piece back into its place, the embodiment of nonchalance despite the ornament gracing him, he said, “We march two weeks from now.”
The announcement didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It was an obvious development.
What did astonish me was the care Gedeon had demonstrated in handling the fragile vegetation not to crush a single petal. It’d caved me in, grounded me into mush.
Realization he would do anything for Zion, whatever he asked, stupid or…well, unhinged would be most likely, thawed me. Watching them both interact so freely, without hesitation, was spellbinding.
Breaking a daffodil’s stem, thesnapreminiscent of a broken neck, I asked, “What about the med prep?”
“It should be doable.” Eislyn tugged her maroon sweater sleeves down, all the way to her knuckles. Lost to the primal instinct to protect, Eli adjusted her position between his legs, drawing her close, sharing his body heat. “The majority has finished our first aid trainings by now, and with Jayce’s help, we should finish up in a week or so,” she assured. Her assistant had already led half of the classes by himself to help speed the process along.
According to common sense, during a war, first aid was the best you’d get. Nobody had the time to haul you to an infirmary, or a “hospital,” as the cities called them. You either self-patched or your buddy did it for you. And then you carried on. Bleeding out or not, you fought. Prayed to see the next sunrise. Hoped to feel the embrace of your partners again. Promised whoever, whatever you believed in, anything in exchange for the survival of your loved ones.
“What about….” Zion scratched his chest, his gaze bouncing between me, Gedeon, Eli enclosing Eislyn in a cage of limbs, andAva shoving more flavorless crackers into Jayla’s mouth despite the latter’s protests.
Out of the seven people, only five were aware of the traitor hiding in our compound.
“Ab-out wha-t?” Jayla coughed out. Crumbs rained on her yellow parka as she sought to clear her airways, the golden flakes resembling minuscule bits of bone in a pool of blood. With the final glare at the remnant of a cracker in her palm, Jayla threw it aside, ignoring how the fragments showered the grass—like a tiny hail pattering the equally small vegetation, neither willing to yield to the other.
Picking up a crushed daffodil, Gedeon stated, “It doesn’t matter.” He discarded the remains of the dead flower aside, calling out an eerie vision of dead bodies littering the roads in Ilasall. “The odds are not in our favor. I doubt he is working alone. And eliminating one rodent from the nest will not change anything. All we can do is prepare for the fallout.”
