August’s silver eyes flitted up and down her face. He stepped forward.
“I could.”
Wren’s breaths quickened as the eye contact between them fused into something charged and heated. Staring into his eyes felt dangerous. She couldn’t help but sense the unspoken words threaded through the silence. The hidden meaning that ricocheted in the space between them. But before she could formulate a response, August was stepping even closer, his gaze never once leaving hers.
“But…” The word slipped out of him in a hoarse whisper, a slightly breathless quality. “I won’t. You know I won’t.”
Wren couldn’t stop her eyes from briefly flicking down to his lips. A heat crept over her neck and onto her cheeks. She fought the urge to blush, but she was helpless to stop it. That was the problem with August. He was the one thing she couldn’t control. The one thing that unmoored her.
“I don’t know you anymore,” Wren whispered.
August tilted his head slightly, his gaze traveling over her face.
“Then let me remind you.”
Wren wasn’t sure if it was the desperation in August’s eyes or the pleading strain in his voice, but something about those five words had the last of her restraint snapping. The uncontrollable magnetism between them drawing them closer and closer. But before either of them could decide to do something reckless, another alarm rang out, booming throughout the cavern.
August grimaced as the moment between them fizzled away. He took a rigid step backward, hands flexing by his side.
“What does that alarm mean?” Wren asked once the sound had subsided.
“It’s over,” August explained. “Somebody won.”
A loud chorus of cheers echoed up ahead. The pair followed the sound, walking toward Silver Unit’s side of the cavern. When they got there, they saw a large crowd of Onyx Unit Demiens. They whistled, raucous shouts reverberating within the group as they clapped and cheered.
And standing in the middle of the crowd, dagger twirling in one hand and a black flag tucked within the other, was Callum.
15
EMILIO
Nothing good ever happens in a creepy forest.
Emilio wasn’t trying to be a pessimist about the whole thing, but it was difficult not to worry about their impending doom. Maybe it was the eerie trees flanking their path, or maybe it was the impenetrable silence sucking out the air like a vacuum—but whatever it was, Emilio couldn’t help but feel…off. His skin itched. His stomach churned. And he was certain that if he’d still had a heartbeat, his pulse would have been pounding in his ears, heart thumping against his chest cavity like a wild drum.
Coward, that annoying little voice echoed in the back of his mind.
“Shut up…” Emilio mumbled to himself, hand clutching his own wrist like it might run away from him.
“You all right?”
Olivier was peering down at Emilio. How long had he been watching? Emilio flushed, suddenly embarrassed. Healwaysfelt embarrassed, and Olivier and his stupid dimples weren’t helping.
“Just…” Emilio’s voice trailed away. He shrugged. “You know.”
Olivier smiled. His dimples deepened, as if mocking Emilio. “I know.”
Emilio shivered, despite the absence of a breeze. He could barely stand the intensity of Olivier’s gaze. The unbearable tensionradiating between them. Did the others sense it? His flush only deepened at the thought.
It was driving Emilio insane that neither one of them could muster up the courage to act upon their feelings. Emilio didn’t blame Olivier—it wasn’t like they’d gotten a lot of alone time since being thrust into the world of the Resistance. But their profession of love seemed to perpetually hang between them now, this unspokenachebuilding inside Emilio, and he was certain that if one of them didn’t make a change, if one of them didn’t close the distance between them, he might just implode.
Emilio sucked in a sharp breath. “Olivier, there’s something I need to—”
But his words were drowned out as Catherine came to a sudden halt, calling for the rest of the group to stop. Emilio groaned.Why do we have the worst timing?He focused his attention on the front of the group, blinking in confusion when he noticed they were standing at the edge of a clearing, a single tree looming at the center. A willow tree.
Emilio gasped.
The tree from the map.
