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I managed a nod and followed him through the trees, our way now illuminated by the glowing light cradled in his palm. Shade walked several steps ahead, humming a cheerful tune that indicated she was once more in her own world. Darius and I walked in silence, one that only grew the further ahead Shade got, leaving the only sound the swaying branches and our footsteps crunching the undergrowth.
Darius felt so close, enough that I could reach out and touch him. Though I didn’t act on this desire, just being with him soothed me. Even if we remained trapped in this forest forever, I knew that I couldn’t be afraid with him by my side. Why had I ever pushed him away?
When I couldn’t bear the silence any longer, I finally found the bravery to speak, my need for him compelling me to push through the fear clogging my throat. “Why are you helping me? After yesterday...” I couldn’t finish.
He didn’t answer for a moment, but he turned towards me when he paused to hold a branch aside for me to pass. “I can’t help it. My disappointments don’t change how much I care.”
“Youshouldn’tcare,” I said. “I’m not worth it.”
“You’re wrong,” he said simply, words that caused my rebellious heart to lift.
Silence settled over us once more. I eyed Shade walking ahead of us with a confidence that suggested she knew exactly where we were. “Do you think Shade was really lost?” I asked.
Darius’s lips twitched, a promising sign that much of his previous frustration with me was fading. “She does know this forest quite well. Either she momentarily forgot and has only now just remembered, or...we’ve just been misled.” His amusement faltered and he was suddenly rather serious. “Or perhaps...she knows how much I wanted to talk to you and is granting me the opportunity.”
My heart thudded wildly and I braced myself for whatever he had to say.
He took a steadying breath. “I—about yesterday—I hurt you, and for that I’m sorry. I should have heard your explanation instead of assuming—” He didn’t finish.
“An explanation was unnecessary,” I said. “My reasons don’t matter; my choices were still the same.”
He sighed. “I confess there’s some truth to that. Seeing you yesterday, what you were doing...brought me great pain.” He stepped closer, and only then did I realize we’d stopped walking. “Yet when I look back on that moment, I can more clearly see how unhappy you are. You wouldn’t be if where you are was where you want to be. And because of that...I still believe in you, Eden. I think I always did, even if I have moments when I momentarily forget.”
My heart swelled at his words, yet the hope I so desperately wanted still remained out of reach. “But perhaps you’re wrong to have faith in me.”
His gaze searched mine, deep and penetrating, and I saw something shift. “Never, Eden. I don’t promise to never doubt again, but I will do my best to always believe in you, for that’s what you deserve.”
Something passed between us in that moment, something warm, deep, and...something else. Whateverthiswas compelled Darius to reach out a hesitant hand and stroke my cheek once. I’d barely leaned into his touch before he rapidly withdrew, almost reluctantly.
“We shouldn’t...it’s late. We have our Weavings.”
I nodded numbly and followed him. Shade had disappeared ahead of us, leaving Darius and me entirely alone. And although our previous silence returned, now it was different, no longer tense, but almost...healing.
There were a multitude of things I ached to say in this moment, but fear was still the dominant emotion in my heart. I searched his face, hoping to decipher what he could possibly be thinking. Though his manner wasn’t so hardened, he still seemed unhappy, so different from how he’d been before my suspension. My guilt returned, remorse that my choices had caused him such pain.
But though I couldn’t take back my previous choices, I could start now in making new ones. As Shade had reminded me, every journey began with a single step.
“Darius?” I managed.
His gaze slid sideways to meet mine. “Yes, Eden?”
I took a wavering breath. “I—I won’t steal from you anymore.”
He stared at me for a moment before managing a shadow of a smile. Though he said nothing more, in this moment that smile was enough.
It wasn’t long before the silence was broken again, this time by him. “I’m curious why you find yourself in this forest with Shade.” A seemingly insignificant topic, but at least we were talking again.
I gratefully accepted his grace. “She wanted to create a brew of hope for me.”
“A brew of hope?” The corner of Darius’s mouth lifted. “Did it work?”
My brow furrowed. “It’s hard to say.”
He tilted his head, searching my eyes, and his own softened by whatever it was he saw. “Perhaps Shade is getting better.”
I frowned. What could he possibility have seen in me? Had he glimpsed a glimmer of hope and believed Shade’s brew had worked?
I wasn’t sure whether or not it had, but as we walked through the thick trees in silence, I couldn’t deny thatsomethinghad changed. The energy between Darius and me felt...different, almost comfortable. My heart twinged, as if struggling to lift. Despite it having been so long since I’d felt it, I recognized the emotion—a light feeling, one that was warm and soft, so different from the hardness that had encased my previously heavy heart.
