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Almost without realizing what he was doing, Nika reached over, grabbed her hand and twined his fingers through hers as he pulled it away from the spot she was rubbing, all the while still looking forward at where his feet where going. They walked like that for a long moment, their hands linked as they trudged ever forward.
Hazel took a deep breath, inhaling the soothing scent of pine needles and earthy peat moss that always reminded her of her childhood spent exploring and adventuring out in the woods. There was something so beautifully wild and uninhibited about the setting that always seemed to put her at peace, no matter how distraught she had been, or how lonely. With her mother constantly gone for weeks or sometimes even months at a time, and the expectations of the coven pressuring her at the same time, it had been very lonely indeed.
Nika’s hand tightened on hers as he picked up on her melancholy reverie and she sent him a grateful look from the corner of her eye. She looked back just in time to stumble to a halt before running into the suddenly stopped Jayce but she still had to reach a hand out, pressing it lightly to his back to help regain some of the lost balance and as soon as she did a spark shot through her. It traveled straight from where she made contact with Jayce’s back to her hand, still twined with Nika’s and then all the way through her body, coalescing at her center all in the blink of an eye.
Hastily, she pulled her hand back, holding it close to her, still feeling the residual after shocks of that small, shared touch. Maybe Jayce was right, and things would be more intense, easier to access her hidden power out here in the wilds, but she remembered the last time they had attempted the Archon’s test. It was so easy for her to remember the way it felt to have Nika at her back, Jayce’s mouth hard and furious on her own. Suddenly short of breath, she took a small step away. If it was like this already, what would happen when they actually started the test itself?
Jayce cast one molten gold look over his should, holding her own burning gaze for a long, tense moment before finally moving, revealing the open glade right in front of him. It was so beautiful, it distracted her for a moment from the ache that had started to build deep within her body, the ache that had been her constant companion since she had first broken apart their prison and freed them.
“Come on,” Jayce’s voice was deep and rough, and it washed over her like warm spiced honey, “let’s begin.”
Silently, they followed him until they were all standing in the middle and Hazel couldn’t stop the wide grin as she looked at everything, her violet eyes sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. It was absolutely breathtaking, so many shades of green and yellow, browns and blacks all layered on top of each other so that it looked like a painting done by the hand of a master. Small tracks in the still damp earth spoke of animals hunting, or being hunted in the night and a den hidden under one of the logs contained a family of foxes that would be fast asleep until darkness fell. It just felt so…right to her, to be standing in such a wild, untouched place with two such wild men.
“Wild, huh?” Nika smirked, tugging slightly on the hand he had refused to give up, even after they had stopped walking.
“Okay, we need to really concentrate now,” Jayce said, trying to look stern. “We know that Eidolon will be coming after you, and we will be able to protect you, but you also need to be able to protect yourself.”
They all grew suddenly sober at Jayce’s words, mainly because they were true. Hazel had tried to not think about the fact that she now had a big red target symbol painted on her back, and only just over two weeks before the next harvest moon. It was amazing for her to think that she had only know these two men for a week. It felt like it had been forever, longer than forever. She had never felt so at peace with another, or so connected. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that always seemed to know what she was thinking, even before she did herself sometimes.
It had forged a bond between them, and the thought that because of her they might be hurt or injured, let alone the fact that they still didn’t know what would happen to them when the harvest moon rose, broke her heart into a million tiny shards, each one sharper than the last.
