“I will kill you,” Luce threatens, looking at Dorian with murder in his eyes.
Dorian’s blonde hair is plastered to his head and his bright blue eyes are sparkling as much as the pool he’s treading water in. “Worth it.”
“Well boys,” I point out, jabbing a thumb over my shoulder. “We’ve come this far and there’s only one way down from here.”
Lucien glares at the waterfall as if frivolity is a personal affront. I swim over to him and kiss his cheek. “No need to be scared, my little human, we’ll be with you every step of the way.”
He splashes me and scoffs. I don’t hide my grin at finally breaking through the icy exterior of the man, loving the one I found underneath. He may wear a mask to keep the rest of the world at bay, but so do I. Here though, when it’s just the four of us? We don’t have that need, and I can’t explain how much it pleases me he’s starting to feel the same.
I know I’m not much better some days, only showing a fake version of myself to the world, but I embrace my flaws. I’m a hypocrite. A thief. A far cry from a martyr, and a small step away from a murderer. I’m a mess, but they love me anyway; just not half as much as I love and need them.
“I’m the oldest one here,” he argues. “Little human and young ward, my ass.”
I tsk under my tongue. “No need to be sensitive about your age, we don’t judge here.”
He rolls his eyes. “Let’s get on with this, shall we?”
Atlas and Dorian are already nearing the small waterfall to the next pool beneath us.
“Come on, Luce,” Dorian cajoles, “loosen up for once. None of us would dare tell a soul that C.E.O. Lucien Avrell actually knows how to have fun.”
“Ooh,” I purr, trailing a hand across his chest, “I knew you were important at your office, but I didn’t realize how much so.”
He scoffs and grabs my hand, dragging me closer so that we can follow the others who didn’t bother to wait for us. “Says the princess,” he counters.
“Now, now, I’m far more akin to the black sheep. But we came out here to forget about my depressing drama, so enough about that.”
He drops it easily without any further urging. “I’m not the C.E.O. You guys really need to quit tossing terms around if you don’t know what they mean.”
“No need to be embarrassed,” I console. “You’re obviously doing well with whatever position you have.”
Atlas holds onto a rock to keep from getting tossed over just yet. “Well he should, since he owns the place.” My eyebrows hit my hairline, impressed.
Lucien takes it in stride. “Not nearly as exciting as you’re thinking. Just means twice as much work and far more responsibilities. Now, I thought we came out here to get away from all of that?”
“You first or me?”
He doesn’t release my hand, dragging me beside him as we get tossed over the side with the current. I whoop out a laugh on the way down, feeling weightless and free. Lucien doesn’t let go that much, but he half smiles as we resurface on the next platform. Atlas and Dorian went on without us, and we make our way down three more levels before we reach the river in the bottom of the valley.
We haul ourselves onto the bank, thoroughly drenched and dripping water all over the place. My clothes weigh heavily on me and my shoes are filled with small pools of their own.
“I might not have thought this all the way through,” Atlas admits. “Walking home is going to be a bitch.”
“You never think anything through, but I should have seen it coming before you jumped and stopped you,” Lucien agrees, wringing out his shirt.
“To be fair,” Dorian adds, stripping off his shirt like Atlas, “it was much better than going back the way we came. I would have likely tripped and tumbled down the mountain. Besides, it would have taken us another day to get down that route.”
I squeeze as much water as possible out of my clothes and hair before starting to walk. “I’m with Dorian. He would have broken a leg,” I tease, sticking my tongue out. “Come on, we better start walking. I’ve never taken this route, so I have no idea what we might come across and it’s getting dark. We’re going to have to cut through at least part of the forest now, so thanks for offering us up as dinner to the monster, Atlas.”
We cut across the open grassland and head towards the outskirts of the forest closest to the mountain, where it’s at least thinner. We walk quickly, but there is no being stealthy. Wet shoes equals annoying duck quacks and squeaks, so anything within a mile radius is going to know exactly where we are. The best I can do is hope the noises come across as threatening instead of ridiculous, because I have no idea what’s been making the animals uneasy lately.
The faster we walk, the more stupid we sound, and eventually we’re all just laughing at our eventual, embarrassing deaths. We don’t even see any of the typical small wildlife I’m used to, and I’m a little sad I won’t get to show them. While things in the fae cities are fake, the things you find in nature are absolutely beautiful. Animals are honest, not needing to hide behind layers of deceit. And they are without a doubt every bit as magical as Dorian hoped this world would be.
I make a mental note to put it on the to-do list. Everything they’ve seen of this place has been depressing and horrible. I want to show them the good things too, like my spot on the cliffs. Because if they honestly believe nothing good can come from this place, where does that leave me in their eyes?
***
Rickon is leaning againstthe door to our house in the middle of the night when we get back. He doesn’t have any of his buddies with him, just like the last time when he showed up to deliver the summons. My heart drops, wondering if that means I was too late.
