He stops, and we both still as we wait in anticipation. The sword is orange from the heat, but nothing else happens.
And then it starts to travel. From the first vein in the wall that extends from the sword, the orange color travels slowly, turning all of the glowing white veins orange. I tilt my head back in awe as I slowly walk closer to him again.
The cave is glowing in brilliant shades of orange, all traveling in jagged lines along the ceiling.
Once it covers every last trail, it finally sizzles out.
I hold my breath as Daegan reaches for the sword once more.
“Don’t burn—” I stop. He grabs the hilt, showing not one sign of pain, and slides it from the wall with ease.
The veins, as if dying, begin to turn dark gray and dull, starting from the same spot as before.
Daegan turns, looking at the sword in wonder. It’s no longer glowing. It looks like any other sword, but I know in my soul that it isn’t.
We lock eyes from a few steps apart, and it’s like time freezes here in our cavern away from the world, the two of us the only people to exist for a moment.
He takes two deliberate steps toward me, and for a moment, I think he’s going to kiss me. His hand even lowers, as if he’s ready to drop the sword.
But he doesn’t. Something flashes behind his eyes, then he clears his throat and flicks his gaze to the sword.
“We did it,” he says reverently.
“We did,” I whisper, trying to remain excited and push past the disappointment from whatever that just was.
His smile grows as he studies the sword.
“Let’s go,” I breathe, looking away from him and leading the way out.
“Don’t you want to see it?”
“No,” I reply as I continue walking. “We need to get back to the others.”
“Right.”
We walk for a while without talking, with me leading the way at a brisk pace, on a mission to get out of this damn cave. All the vines that clung to the walls on the way in are now gone. The only evidence they were ever here is now piles of ash on the ground.
The longer I walk alone with my thoughts, the more irritated I become. I’m mostly mad at myself for becoming so enraptured with a guy who’s notinterested. Finding the sword is an exciting moment I’ve waited half my life for, and while I am thrilled that we actually succeeded, I can’t stop thinking about that very obvious pause from Daegan. How he looked at me with so much intention in his eyes, then thought better of it and pulled back. Because I’m an elf, I guess. The farther I walk, the madder I become.
Bastard.
“Elle,” Daegan starts after a while. I already know from his tone that he’s going to try to talk about it. There’s no pretending that awkward moment didn’t happen between us.
“Don’t,” I snap.
“We should talk about it…”
“I don’t want to. Just let it be.”
He doesn’t say anything.
When I think we’re nearing the beginning of the split in the cave, I pick up my pace even more. I finally enter the clearing where the cave splits into three tunnels, and I instantly sense we’re alone. Dread washes over me.
No one has returned yet.
I check my fire orb and it’s just below the third line, past when we all agreed to be back here.
“Fuck!” I curse.
