Gus’s gaze drifted toward the top of the shaft.
I wonder if he survived.
She wanted to think he had.That somehow, he’d avoided being crushed and had used the chaos to escape.
Perhaps that was wishful thinking though.
It was much more likely he was dead.The chance of anyone surviving was slim to none.
Well, maybe Kira could have survived.Pallas too.
Actually, most of her siblings probably would have scraped through by the skin of their teeth.But that was them.
Caius was different.
Right?
Gus groaned, pressing the heels of her palms to her eye sockets.She didn’t even know why she cared.Sheshouldn’tcare.Caius was nobody to her.A fleeting acquaintance who was bound to leave her company at some point or another.
It just so happened their parting was a little sooner and more violent than expected.
The chaterling made a questioning sound and pressed a paw to Gus’s nose.
“I’m fine.”Gus dropped her hands, staring up at the rippled ridges of the trunk’s shaft.“I’m fine.”
She would be fine.
Just like always.
People came.They went.That was how it had always been.How it would always be.Getting upset about it wouldn’t change that.
Gus forced herself to relax back into the aerial root hammock, letting it cradle her body as she gently rocked.
What now?
She had the proof that she wasn’t the mastermind behind this.She could send it to Ryan and Kira and then walk away.Forget Caius.The boy.Let the situation play out as it would.
Something in her balked at that thought.
Gus wasn’t particularly vengeful.Not like Kira and Jin or the rest of her siblings anyway.She was more a turn the other cheek and bury her head in the sand sort.But Mars and Cleo had crossed the line.She didn’t think she could live with herself if she let that stand.
“Something will have to be done,” Gus murmured before sighing.
Why was it so hard to have a peaceful life?All she wanted was her bed and her plants.But noooo, everyone kept dragging her into things she didn’t want to be dragged into.
“Should have escaped on my own years ago,” Gus grumbled, setting the hammock to swinging as she sat up and dangled her legs over the edge.The chaterling mrphed a protest before leaping off her to glide over and perch on one of the roots of the trunk.“My life would have been so much simpler that way.”
There would definitely have been less baggage.
Gus accessed the scroll around her wrist.“First things first.”
She needed to get that proof sent before anything else happened.If Ryan hadn’t freed himself already, he would soon.Even now he could be on her trail.She needed to head him off before she lost her head.
How long had she been out anyway?
Judging by the complete lack of headache or general weakness that usually accompanied akiburnout, she was guessing a while.
Hours, most likely.
