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16
YOU AND I
SARIEL
Icouldn’t believe I’d just … let him go.
Guilt—which I’d been putting aside all day in favor of running the fuck away—ate at me as I went around the forest, looking for abandoned or broken pieces of wood in the dark. I didn’t exactly have an ax to chop anything down with, so I had to make do with snapping branches off of trees if there weren’t enough on the ground. The task didn’t distract me from my thoughts at all.
I’d abandoned Mikey once before, and I abandoned him again.
I should’ve done something. I should’ve grabbed him. I should’ve…
A worried nudge at the bond snapped me out of it. Aria was probably sensing my upset.
I gave a reassuring tug back, feeling a little bit better. Not perfect, though.
What was going to happen to Mikey over there? I was just now realizing how much he must care about Lucia to stay there with her—what was going to happen to her? Their fates couldn’t be pretty for disobeying the fae monarchs’ will, the Queen’s sister and her lover or not.
Would they be locked away? Tortured? Executed?
I thought back to that ball of vines from our welcoming party and the depravity that had circled it, and my gut clenched.
I was the one that’d brought Mikey to the Free Kingdom in the first place. It was my fault he’d been there, yet I hadn’t even gotten him out safely.
I was a shit brother. There were no two ways about it. First Auren, now Mikey—
Sariel, are you okay over there?
Aria snapped me out of my thoughts yet again.I’m fine,I lied.
Why don’t I believe you?
Because I’m lying, we’ll talk later.
There was no point in trying to fib with mental words, I guess.
I quickly gathered as many dry pieces of wood that I could hold, then made my way back to where I remembered the cabin being. I purposefully hadn’t gone too far so that I wouldn’t get lost in the darkness.
After I got back, Johnny helped me to set up the stones and branches to make a safe campfire in the shack. Dry grass was everywhere, so we used that as kindling, and Marilyn had enough strength in her to make a spark. When the fire roared upwards, everyone huddled around it.
“I’m going to go find some rabbits or something,” Johnny said, rising to his feet. “Hunger isn’t going to help anyone.”
I look over at Neo, Marilyn, and Reese in particular. They would need to get at least a nap in, but that might not happen if hunger pangs kept them up. I nodded back at Johnny. “Be careful.”
He nodded once, shifted, and leaped into the dark woods. He had night vision and a good sense of smell—I wasn’t worried about any humans seeing him this late at night, either.
“We should sleep in shifts for naps,” Aria said, eyeing the others, who were much more worn-out. “I feel okay, and you seem okay, too, Sariel. We should take the first shift.”
Her eyes promised a talk, probably to discuss how upset I’d been earlier. “That’s fine,” I said. “Go to sleep, you three. Food’ll be here when you wake up.”
Neo and Reese automatically went to cuddle up together, unsurprisingly. Marilyn used her jacket as a pillow as a temporary measure; Johnny would return to her soon enough. It wasn’t long before all three of them conked out.
Aria and I stared into the orange-red flames as they crackled and spat out sparks. Its warmth heated us both up, chasing away the chill.
I’m surprised blessed-blood Johnny has it in him to hunt rabbits,she suddenly said.
He’s in the best shape out of all of us and could do the quickest job. He normally wouldn’t, but if not him, who else?I answered.
