The ring is burning a hole in my mind.
After a while, the stone gives way to gravel. The sound changes. Instead of the soft thud of boots on stone, it’s the click and scatter of stones, then something else, a sound of water, fast and loud, like a river in full flood. Glancing behind me, I see that Cassius’s ears have perked up first. He points with his chin, and we all pick up the pace.
The trees thin, and then the world opens. We come out on the edge of a lake, so blue and wide it hurts to look at. The water stretches forever, silvered by the sky. The far shore is just a smear of green. There’s a beach, sort of, a mix of sand and little stones, and the air smells clean for the first time in days.
Alette stops so suddenly that Sylvian almost crashes into her. She stands there, breathing, like she’s afraid if she moves it’ll vanish.
“Nice,” Oberon grunts, pushing past the rest of us. He makes for the water’s edge, kicks off his boots, and just stands there with his toes in the wet sand. Cassius walks the shore, but comes back, seemingly satisfied that it’s safe.
Sylvian laughs, a real, open sound, and strips his shirt off with one hand, undoes his pants, and drops it all to the ground. “I’d forgotten what clean felt like,” he says, and then he’s in the water, splashing and shouting and making a spectacle. Oberon stares at him for a second, then shrugs and follows, stripping down to just his undergarments, before stomping in up to his knees and then diving forward with barely a splash.
Cassius looks at the lake, then at me. “Go on,” he says. “You’ll feel better.”
He’s right. I’m filthy, covered in a week’s worth of hedge-dirt and blood and sweat, and my hair is crunchy and gross. But I don’t move. I’m watching Alette, who’s still at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed, eyes on the water but mind somewhere else.
She catches me looking.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, moving closer to her.
“It’s fine,” she says, “I’m just going to go a little further down for some privacy.”
“I can come with you… if you want.”
She turns scarlet and shakes her head. “I’m fine.”
She drops her arms, then moves down the shore, away from the rest of us. She pulls her boots off, then her jacket, then mostly disappears behind some tall plants. I want to go to her, but I don’t. I just stand there, feeling the lake breeze on my face, wishing she’d told me I could come with her. Imagining what I’ddo to her in the lake. Her tiny body wrapped around mine. Her eyes wide as I grip her hips and slide into her.
A shudder moves through my body, and I know that I’m hard. Thinking. Wondering. Knowing how good it’d feel to be inside her tight little body.Would she say my name? Would she pull me closer?
I adjust myself, realizing I don’t want to be getting into the water with the others with a hard on. I need to think about something else. Maybe the three jackasses.
Sylvian is floating on his back, arms out, eyes closed. Oberon is washing himself like he wants to take off the first few layers of his skin. Cassius paces, watching the reeds and the far shore, never relaxing for a second, even though as a water fae he should have already eagerly jumped in the water.
I finally pull my shirt off, then my boots and pants, and wade in. The water is cold, shockingly cold, but after a minute it starts to feel good. I dunk my head, and when I come up, Sylvian is grinning at me.
“You’re brooding,” he says.
I shake the water out of my hair. “So?”
He laughs. “You’re not a brooder. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Maybe I’m trying something new.”
He rolls, sending a wave at me, and I dodge. “You could try smiling. Or, you know, stop acting like someone pissed in your wine.”
“I’ll get right on that,” I say, but my heart’s not in it.
He floats closer, lowering his voice. “Are you too busy thinking about Alette?”
“No.”
He looks at me, really looks, and something in his expression goes soft. “She’s really growing on you, huh?” he says, no judgment in it.
“Yeah,” I admit.
“I feel the same way,” he says with a shrug. “We all do. One of the few things we accomplished while you and Alette were gone was realizing that we all share similar feelings. It must be something about the labyrinth, or the sword, or maybe it’s just her.”
I nod, water dripping down my face. “I think it’s just her.”
