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A knowing smirk curved her perfect lips. “Oh?” Her eyes sparkled in the setting sun, and I wanted more than anything to have Del by my side forever. But if for now was all I got, I would take it a thousand times over. “And what is there to do out here until sunrise?” she asked with a smile in her voice.
I brushed my lips against her ear. “I can think of a few things.”
Del giggled, my breath tickling her neck, and leaning in, I kissed her like tomorrow didn’t matter. Like she was just Del, and I was just Fin, and there were no kingdoms and no prophecies. I kissed her the way a man worships the woman he loves, with every breath and brush of my lips, because Del was the part of me I’d lost for so long. And I finally had her back.
38
Del
The slog across the desert took two days and was hard and exhausting. Now that we had the refugees from the outpost with us, Callon, Lyra, and Fin seemed to fall into a different rhythm—more serious and attentive. I imagined that’s how they were out here, in the desert they called home, where they were responsible for others. Still, as well adapted as Fin and his friends seemed, I didn’t understand how anyone could live out in this barren wasteland, where the world was painted in shades of muted brown.
We stopped near a hidden freshwater spring to make camp for one night, moving on at first light. Now that we were so close, Fin was eager to return to his people.
By midafternoon on the second day in the desert, when the sun hovered high in the sky like it was resisting its inevitable descent and my clothing was soaked with sweat, the cracked, patchy road we had been traveling alongside since early that morning met with the vestiges of another ancient highway. A rusted green sign on the right side of the new road declared that we would reach some old-world place calledShoshonein one mile.
Had there really been a town out here, nestled between the craggy mountains to the east and the barren hillsides to the west? I couldn’t imaginewhyanyone would have settled out in this wasteland, especially during those ancient times of convenience and plenty. Perhaps overcrowding drove them away from the cities.
“I’ll let them know to prepare for the group,” Callon told Fin, and he trotted ahead. We were getting close.
Perhaps Fin and his people had settled atop the ancient ruins of thisShoshone. I glanced at Fin, riding on my left at the front of our group, but he seemed deep in thought and didn’t notice my attention. On my right, Liam had the glazed look of someone who had spent hours upon hours on horseback.
As we veered south, following the new highway, spots of vibrant green appeared here and there on either side of the road. At first, there were just a few bushy shrubs, larger and of a more vibrant green than the scraggly sagebrush that littered the desert floor. But soon, patches of tall grass swayed in the warm breeze. Those patches gradually merged, becoming a legitimate field.
“Look, Mom!” Liam said from his mount beside me as we passed through a gap the highway cut into a low slope in the hillside. He pointed farther up the road. “Palm trees!”
My eyes widened. About a quarter of a mile ahead, squat palm trees clustered along the shoulder of the highway. Beyond them, I could just make out the outlines of dozens of small huts, some wooden, some adobe. It was hard to tell for sure through the distorting heat waves rising off the road, but I thought I could see people moving around among the structures.
“Not quite what you were expecting?” Fin said from my other side.
I glanced at him sidelong, unable to tear my attention fully from the settlement ahead.
“There was a town here—before,” Fin explained. “We’ve been able to repair enough of their wells to make them functional for our numbers. Plus, there’s a spring-fed creek we use—sparingly—for irrigation. Just enough to get by without running it dry.”
I frowned, my eyebrows rising. Of all I had seen in Fin’s mind, nothing had prepared me for such a well-established settlement. I had been picturing a glorified camp filled with people scrounging to get by. But since he mentioned irrigation, I could see the patches of green on the ground along the edge of the settlement that had to be their gardens and small agricultural fields.
“You can grow enough food to feed everyone?”
Fin shook his head. “We forage a bit, too—pine nuts, mostly—but hunting is the real staple. Bighorn sheep and deer when we can find them, jackrabbits and tortoises when we can’t.”
I suppressed a grimace, not loving the idea of eating a tortoise.
“There’s not much wood to smoke the meat, but there’s plenty of salt, so...”
As we drew closer to the settlement, I attempted to count the dwellings but gave up when I passed twenty-five. There had to be well over a hundred huts, with tents scattered around the outskirts of the more permanent structures.
“How many people do you have out here?” I asked, looking at Fin fully.
“We had just passed a thousand before I left.” He lifted one shoulder. “But new people are always trickling in—more and more of late, as you have seen.” He nodded to the new folks riding on horseback behind us. “What, with the unrest in the Seven Kingdoms.” He clenched and unclenched his jaw. “I imagine we’ll see a big influx soon from the Corvo Kingdom, now that you’re no longer in power.”
I pressed my lips together, not so sure.
“You don’t think your people care who rules them?”
I shrugged. I didn’t think they cared ifIruled them. I was nobody special, and now the world knew.My peopleknew.
Fin let out a dry chuckle. “You’re wrong, Del.”
Unsure how to respond, I flashed him a halfhearted smile.
