“Anything is easy if we take it one step at a time and do it together,” he responded, his hand coming up to grip my jaw and throat.
He tilted my head back, grazing his lips against mine as he said, “Your empathy is a strength, my love. Use it like one.”
Unable to help myself, I lifted myself higher, pressing not just my lips to his, butourbodies together. He let out a small breathy sound at the contact—a sound I wanted to hear again.
And again.
Andagain.
By the time we made it back to camp to instruct the group on our next moves, my lips were swollen with kisses, and Byn’s hair was heavily mused.
And both of our eyes shone brightly with the love we held for each other.
How this overwhelming amount of love can fit inside of my physical body,I thought as I gazed sideways at my husband,I do not know.
***
The first half of our group left the night before us;they’dneeded the extra time to get a head start on their journey toJackton. It had taken a little time to sort out, but in the end, theOcreinroyal siblings, Callum andCaelia, headed toJacktonalong with Chess and Rayven.Jackton, which was situated on the farthest northeast corner ofInphis, was about a day’s journey from our rendezvous point outside ofAcrynd, while my group—Byn, myself, Matea, and Laurence—was heading toNeokell.
We had agreed to meet back at the lush cave inroughly threedays’ time.
North and slightly west ofAcrynd,Neokellsat higher up thanAcrynd, but lower thanGenisynwhen it came to elevation.I’dseenartist’srenditions of all the other cities of the North in books growing up, so I knew when we arrivedroughly whatto expect—rocky terrain with a city nestled against the mountains.
After traveling the day before, then resting at our latest hiding spot,we’dfinally made it.
But despite all I had tried to prepare myself for, what I did not expect was thesmell.
Icouldn’tpinpoint exactly what it was coming from, whether it was simply the city or terrain or something more, but each time the wind blew, it brought gusts of foul air to throw us off guard.
We would not let it.
We ended up using our cloaks to help shield the lower portions of our faces as we had walked the last stretch toward the outskirts of the city.We’dthen set up our meeting point and split into pairsonce again to scout and see if we could find any leads. Needing a shadow wielder per pair, I brought Byn with me while Matea took Laurence. My sister and guardboth had such stern expressions before they dissipated into shadows, I worried for anybody they happened to run into.
Now,we’dall been scouring the nooks and crannies of the mountain city, all without finding a thing.
We’dfound nothing, and the sky had grown dark.
We had lost an entire day—and fornaught.
Frustrated, I shadow wielded Byn and myself to the top of a high building, only letting go and materializing us once we were safely in the middle of the roof.
“Ugh!” I groaned, my emotions beginning to sizzle in my veins, courtesy of myzirilium.
“I knowit’supsetting not to find anything, butmaybe Rayvenand Callum found something over atJackton.Maybe theyaren’there, Avi.” Byn’s voice carried just a hint of sadness, and I could feel that he was disappointed, too.
“It’sjust… what am I if Ican’tdo this one task? Icouldn’thelp my own people. I thoughtmaybe I’dredeem myself by finding yours, but…” I trailed off as I slowly slumped to the ground, my wings splaying out behind me on the rooftop.
Byn came to kneel next to me, gently cupping both sides of my face to get me to look at him.
“They’re bothourpeople now, Avi. And we haven’t failed yet.”
Drawing strength from his confidence in us, I took a deep breath.
It was time to start over.
Pulling out the papers Valenia had given me, I laid them all out in random order—minus the sketch, which I handed to Byn. The sketch had been of what I assumed was the inside of the encampment,showing a handful of buildings and structures, which would only be helpfulafterwe found its location.
On the papers, the only contents consisted of lines and dots. Ididn’tquite understand—until I did.
