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“I suppose he senses you’re my family too.”
I grin up at him, then glance back at DaiSzek. “You hear that, big boy? We’re family now.”
How incredible to be this close to a once feared beast.
~
You have a beautiful mind. I think.
Dessin maps out where we are going to go from here. He draws the terrain and obstacles ahead with his fingers. The punctual movements are exact, and he needs no form of measurement to fact-check himself.
I am flat on my belly, my head propped up by my hands resting under my jaw with my elbows digging into the dirt. I close my eyes, then shift them away from the fast movements he is making. I refocus my attention on his face. The source that makes my heart flop like a fish lurching for water.
His undeterred focus is that of a savant calculating the accuracy of their newest discovery. I have a fleeting image of myself caressing his jawline and—
“Can I help you?” he asks without taking his eyes off the dirt map.
My mouth parts, but I say nothing.
“Just admiring my good looks, or do you have something to say?”
Wow, his peripherals are uncanny. “I’m waiting for you to explain what is obvious in your head and not so obvious to others. What’s the plan?”
A smirk appears on his lips, but he wipes it away like an unwanted bug landing on him.
“We have to get to the North Saphrine Forest.”
I look down at what I’m wearing. A dress. A dress that goes down to my knees, barely passing my shoulders. “Dessin, it’s snowing out there. Temperatures get below freezing at night. I would die.”
“I’ve planned for that.” He nods, examining my dress. “Everything we need will be at our next stop. There’s a Demechnef defect out in a small village in those mountains. People who escaped the city and wanted to live freely. They all settled to this one spot.”
I frown. “So that’s your big plan for us? Wait out the rest of our days in the snow until we finally freeze to death?” For the first time, I feel doubt.
He rotates to me, stands to his feet, and raises his eyebrows. “Did it sound like I was finished?”
I shake my head.
He walks up to me, tall with confidence dripping from his presence. “I know you didn’t have to run with me, and I know you probably didn’t picture your life on the run with a dangerous criminally insane man. I’m fully aware of this.”
But I wanted to.
He’s a breath away from me, hovering like a cloud of death. Thick webs of desire form over my nerves, buzzing under my skin.
“But you are with me. You chose to run, and it wasn’t out of spontaneity. You ran because you trust me.” He stares down at me, and all I want to do is touch him, thank him, and hold him close to me.
Instead, I say, “I’m sorry.” I don’t know why I said that; I’d run until I was old and gray if it meant it was with you. I want to say all of this. But it won’t leave my lips.
He nods. “These are the routes we will take to avoid any trackers coming for us. DaiSzek will let us know if they get close. But let’s just make it to the defects first, and then we’ll know more about the next steps we’re going to take.”
~
The next couple of hours, Dessin leaves me alone with DaiSzek to set us up with a place to sleep and a fire to cook what he hunts. I feel a little useless when he or Kane leaves to do all the work. But what am I supposed to do? I don’t know how to hunt (nor would I want to.) I don’t know how to set up a fire or a shelter for us to sleep. I’m basically deadweight. Why does he even want me around?
I decide to use this time to get more comfortable around DaiSzek. To learn just how capable he really is.
He lies in the dirt looking like a black grizzly bear. I kneel down beside him and run my fingers over the thick fur on the side of his body. His brilliant cinnamon eyes flick over to me.
“Hi,” I whisper to him. He sits up to face me directly. “Can you understand me?” I ask.
