Page 63 of A Sweet Destruction

Carson’s hand off was deadly silent. I didn’t think there was any way to mention what was happening without risking a too-grating quip and guns being drawn.

Peter did his best to stay neutral, but as Carson approached, his lip curled with that specific upturn that promised pain if you crossed him. Though we were all deeply familiar with that expression, Carson included, Elijah wasn’t.

Or maybe he was and just didn’t care. He let at least three quips fly before Peter said, “Elijah, do remember that threats can take many forms. You wouldn’t want me to mistake your words as one and put Carson at risk here, now would we?”

Elijah just laughed, turning his horse without another look.

I knew it was really that simple, that we’d meet and then head off into a world we didn’t know, but it still felt like it was happening very quickly.

I blinked, and all of the sudden, instead of looking out into the rolling fields, I was sucked into an even deeper green. One more comforting than any other shade in the world.

Ford’s eyes narrowed at something he saw in my expression, always calculating. I wasn’t going to share that what he saw was restrained fear, because then he’d realize how often I looked that way around him.

Not scared of him, but scared of the way my entire body relaxed at the reminder that he was here with me. That I not only needed my partner in all of this, but—

Ford jerked his chin up, motioning to something over my shoulder. I turned to find a collection of small birds with rapidly fluttering wings fight each other over access to a ripe cluster of bright flowers.

My next breath felt a little easier to drag in.

It…it wasn’t just that I needed a partner. It was the fact that I was glad it was him.

Damn right, the Bond grumbled, displeased with even the slightest illusion that I wasn’t ecstatic that I’d been blessed with Ford.

I made myself turn back around to look at Ford, keeping my smile in place, even as the sun broke through a cloud and cast his form in a warm light that made him look otherworldly beautiful.

I was only able to glimpse the slight uptick of Ford’s mouth before we took off into uncharted waters.

Chapter 15

Ford

I was having a hard time maintaining my fear about being led to our collective, very painful deaths.

It was difficult to have any sort of care for my life when I was watching Esme catalog everything she witnessed with wide, observant eyes.

A weaker person would have fallen right into the embrace of that warm brown, dead to anything else in the world. Thank God for Shadow, or else I’d be falling right off her back in a poor attempt to reach for Esme.

It was…damnit, I’d never had unrestricted access to her while she discovered something. I mean, I’d seen her look at a necklace made of the most precious stones across two planets and snatch it up like it was her firstborn child.

That was one type of wonder, but this…

Make it last, the Bond commanded. I didn’t need to bow to it, I’d already decided that.

As we’d taken off into the Muli countryside, the sprawling hills we’d known for so long started to sharpen. We breezed right past Pax, leaving the only town we’d ever seen right behind, following the gushing river that cut through our camp, snaked around the slope of a hill a few miles downstream, then looped through the border town.

The ground beneath us started slanting upward at a more treacherous angle. Esme’s mouth had opened ever so slightly as she cataloged the trees around us, growing sparser with each handful of distance we gained.

The river started to rush faster and rougher. When the spray started to get so intense that it cast us all in a light sheen of water, Esme wiped her face dry with a relieved sigh. That sound did something odd to my stomach.

Well, I knew exactly what it did, but to give it a name would cause a series of thoughts that were inappropriate to entertain given the situation, and surely would set the Bond off on a lengthy, feral scream.

By the lack of tension in my limbs, you’d think that we were on our way to a secluded campsite with our oldest friends, not being led to an unfamiliar town with limited weapons and five other allies.

Though I was strongly considering ignoring that fact—especially if I was nearing death—and continuing to unabashedly stare at Esme, I decided that I had to at least try to be good at my job and focus on the Muli soldiers surrounding us.

Elijah was at the front, not even bothering to look back at us. The normally lazy set of his shoulders was gone, replaced with a near-perfect riding stance—if not a little too tense. The type that came from being slightly scared of your steed.

Flanking both his sides, but a few steps back, was that soldier who’d stared a little too long at Esme when we’d first arrived—Push him off his horse, the Bond cut in—and another soldier I knew was named Bridgers.