I inhale quickly and unleash the words in a rush of breath before I can change my mind.
“I need to go back to the Voyagers.”
We stop moving instantly, and his eyes snap to mine. All the molten warmth found there a moment ago has disappeared.
“Let me explain before you say anything, please?”
His muscles stiffen under my touch, and I know I’m losing my chance, so I let the words spill out, trying to at least get him to hear them before he completely shuts down and denies everything Sig and I are hoping for.
“I know you said no to Sig before, but I really want you to rethink this. The dust is running out. I know we keep looking forit, but you’ve been looking for twenty years and haven’t found it. The only chance any of us have at getting home is getting that pouch from Dane.”
His face draws tighter and fury flashes in his eyes at the mention of Dane.
Shit.
“I know you don’t trust him,” I splutter, “and now I don’t either. But that is all the more reason for me to go back and try to take it from him. We can’t let him strand us here. You know I’m the only one who can get close enough to him to take it.”
“No,” he growls, his hands dropping away from my body as he steps backward.
“Weston, please,” I beg, my skin suddenly feeling cold in every place we were pressed together.
“No,” he says again, his voice harsher than before. He doesn’t even acknowledge that I called him by his name, unlike the last time it happened.
“Taril said things were different at camp, that Dane was behaving oddly.”
“You told me nothing Taril could say would make you want to go back,” he says, and a chill slides up my spine.
He’s right, I said that, and I had no intention of going back when I made that statement. But now, after hearing from Taril and talking to Sig, I just don’t think we have a choice.
“I know what I said, but I think something is going on. I need to go back now. If I don’t try, we’re going to be trapped here.”
“I’ve been trapped here for twenty years, princess. I’ve made my peace with it.” His voice rises and his lips turn down in a scowl.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it,” I say, my voice rising to match his. “If you had, you wouldn’t keep searching. You wouldn’t keep holding onto hope. You’re still trying to get home. Let me help!”
“You’re not going back.” He brushes past me, crossing the cave toward the torch, but I’m not letting him shut this down that easily. I follow right behind him, refusing to back down.
“Why? Give me a good reason.”
“Because I said so.”
Reaching out, I grab hold of his vest, yanking him to a halt. He turns and faces me with an aggravated sigh, planting his hands on his hips as he glares down at me.
“That isn’t even close to a reason, Weston! I don’t understand what more I need to do for you to believe in me.”
“Believing in you isn’t the issue,” he huffs and turns back toward the wall again.
“Then let me go back,” I say, yanking on the leather again. I need him to listen to me, not to just brush me off with an already made up mind.
“No.”
“Why. Not!” I yell.
“You just need to trust me!” he roars, whirring around and towering over me. I stagger backward at his anger, as his yell bounces off the walls of the cave, but it isn’t just his outburst that startled me. There’s something more, something I feel like I still don’t know.
Something he’s still hiding from me.
“I do trust you,” I say, my voice dropping, but my anger still makes the sound tremble. “But now I think there’s something you aren’t telling me.”
