Chapter 19
Ihonestly couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so comfortable.
But as the world around me began to return, I questioned this warm feeling of being cocooned in a safety blanket.
My answer only came as I opened my eyes to the pale canvas of the tent above and I remembered how I got here.
Well, not here exactly, because I turned my head and lifted it slightly, only to gasp at what I saw.
No longer was Atlas curled around me from behind…
At some point during the night, we had shifted, and that shift had brought a kind of intimacy I prayed he wouldn’t notice.
I was nestled against him, his arm resting around my back, and my hand was splayed across his chest. The steady beat of his heart would have been enough to lure me right back to sleep if not for the sight of him beneath me, so close, so impossibly still.
Tucked against his side, my head had found its perfect nook, using him as a pillow. I knew I should have moved away, should have created space, but in that moment, I was incapable of it.
I simply didn’t want to.
Not while I had this rare chance to be so close to him. My fingers itched to trace the contours of his handsome face, one that looked far too peaceful in sleep.
However, the second he released a deep, contented sigh, I knew he might stir at any moment. Which was why I slowly began to lift my hand from his chest, hoping I could roll away before he noticed how I’d curled into him.
But faster than my eyes could follow, his hand shot out, shackling my wrist, preventing the escape. Then his fingers dipped down to my hand, curled around my palm, and engulfed it completely, keeping me from moving. A quick exhale escaped my lips.
Then, the corner of his mouth twitched, and without even opening his eyes, he murmured,
“Just so you know… You do snore.”
A quiet laugh slipped from me before I could stop it. His teasing had the power to ease tension like nothing else. A smile touched his lips as his eyes opened, amusement shown in them. They caught mine, twinkling with amusement, too.
“I do not,” I protested.
“Tsk… now I am wounded indeed,” he said with a mock sigh before going on to add, “For this is the thanks I get after being so patient with you last night while you tried your best to rob me of sleep. You wake this morning and call me a liar.” He placed a hand over his heart, feigning injury, and I rolled my eyes, though my grin betrayed me.
“Well, you did keep me warm, I’ll give you that,” I admitted.
“Well, it’s nice to know I’m good for something,” he teased, making me laugh.
“You were indeed, and if I ever need to protect my feet from frostbite again, then I know who to call,” I said with a wink.
“Happy to oblige, such a fair maiden,” he added, his voice keeping its playful tone. I couldn’t stop grinning as I kept our banter going.
“Now all I need is for you to produce a hot flask of coffee, and you might actually be my new favorite person,” I said before I could stop myself, then guilt about Riley niggled its way in and stayed long enough that my grin died.
However, he didn’t notice and, thankfully, also didn’t comment, as I don’t know what I would have done had he mentioned his name.
No, instead, he squeezed my hand, which he still held captive against his chest.
“Alas, I have failed you, but can I tempt you with some dry bread instead?” he offered, making me giggle, and my grin was back again.
“When you say it like that, how can a girl resist?” I said with mock drama, making him chuckle again. Then he gripped my hand once more before finally letting it go, and I took the hint, rolling away so he could do the same.
I then grabbed my boots, pulling them on while asking, “So, what’s the plan for today then?”
Atlas stood, stretching his arms behind him until his shoulders popped. The sight was making me lose focus on anything but the way his back muscles tensed and the way his shoulders bulged.
“We haven’t got far to go before we reach our destination,” he told me, back to being his cryptic self once more.
“And are you actually going to tell me what that is yet?”
He winced, and I knew that didn’t exactly bode well for me.
“I don’t know. If I do, are you going to ‘freak out’?” he asked, using quotation marks as he said, ‘freak out’.
I gave him a pointed look that clearly said no, even though I didn’t entirely believe it.
He finished fastening the metal clasps on his boots before saying simply, “The Rift. I’m taking you to the Rift, Alexandra.”
My mouth dropped open as my eyes went wide. “Oh no. No, no, no. Absolutely not!” I argued as I stormed out of the tent before he could stop me.
“Come on now…” he started, but I whipped around, jabbing a finger toward him.
“Oh no, don’t you ‘come on’ me! Did you forget our conversation about boundaries?” I snapped, quick to remind him of our pact of peace made only twenty-four hours ago.
He sighed heavily, his expression softening.
“If I told you, I knew you wouldn’t come,” he said, making me huff and toss my arms up at the infuriating man.
“You’re damn right I wouldn’t have!” I snapped.
“The Rift, Atlas! Remember? Worst day of my life! You were in that office… you saw the reason I never wanted to go back!” I shouted, and with a slight shake of his head, he spoke my name in calm frustration.
“Alexandra…”
“No, Atlas, you don’t understand…” I began, shaking my own head.
“But I do,” he cut in firmly, reaching for my hand before I could storm off again. He pulled me back to face him, his grip unyielding yet gentle.
“I understand,” he said quietly, eyes locked with mine, “but you have to know that you could be the key to getting us home.”
“What? But how?” My voice trembled with disbelief. “How am I the key? Why would I ever…” My words trailed off as he gave me that look, soft and full of something I couldn’t name, and I hated that it made my heart falter.
“It’s hard to explain,” he said, his voice quiet but steady. “But if there’s even a chance that it could be true, don’t you want to know?” I shook my head, grasping at any excuse, any possible way out of this.
“Look, I get it, alright?” he continued, stepping closer.
“If there was any other way, I wouldn’t be doing this. I wouldn’t be forcing you to face your fears so soon. But time is running out.” My stomach dropped.
“What do you mean?”
“This dark force, whatever it is that has taken hold of my people, it’s growing stronger, Alexandra,” he said grimly.
“There are fears among my army that it’s starting to spread outward, and can latch onto those still with their soul intact, the ones who protect you and your people.”
I blinked, my pulse quickening.
“It can do that?”
He nodded, the faintest trace of defeat flickering behind his eyes.
“It has been growing stronger each year and has somehow learned how to adapt. It has already claimed some of my soldiers in battle. It’s evolving.
We don’t know how or why, only that it’s happening…
so you see, it’s imperative that we open the Rift,” he said, his tone growing more desperate as he explained the dire situation.
“But what’s to stop more of those dark things from coming out?” I demanded. “What’s to stop more horror from escaping into this world?”
“Because we will be there to stop them,” he said, conviction hardening his tone.
“So what’s your plan then?” I asked, arms folded tight over my chest.
“You’re just going to take your people and leave us?” The accusation was clear to hear. Yet instead of him getting angry, he gave me a soft look, his head tilting slightly.
“Alexandra, no. Of course not. I wouldn’t abandon this world and let it fend for itself… but I would need to take part of my army back with me.” I swallowed hard, not knowing what pained me more, the thought of facing this fight once more or doing it without him.
That he would be the one leaving.
“To do what exactly?” I asked in a wary tone.
“Something created this darkness, and the cause is still in my world,” he said quietly.
“And if it is, then what? What is your plan exactly?”
He met my eyes, his expression unreadable.
“Cutting the head off the snake,” he replied darkly with that faint white glow flashing in his eyes, as anger seeped through for a second.
“So what? You think if you kill the one that created it, the darkness just disappears?” I asked, hoping that this was the case. That would finally mean the end of this living nightmare for everyone.
“That’s the best theory we have,” he admitted, and there it was. Not an absolute, but the truth all the same. No bullshit. No false hope. Just a chance.
“And the alternative?” I asked, my voice trembling despite myself.
“The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about,” he admitted. “But since you asked, you need to understand what’s at stake if we fail.”
I swallowed hard before asking, “What’s at stake?”
“If the darkness evolves further, if it finds a way to spread beyond my people, it won’t stop there… It… it could consume humans as well.”
I gasped and just stared at him, my heart freezing mid-beat.
“What?” I hissed at the horror of it.
He sighed heavily, as if burdened with being the one to tell me, knowing it was the next biggest fear and threat to my world.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you,” he confessed, regretfully.
“What? Tell me what exactly?” I snapped. “You didn’t think I’d need to know something like that?!” I accused, feeling anger build inside me. But in truth, it wasn’t directed at him. No, it was directed at the cause and the enemy we couldn’t see. The one behind the curtain pulling all the strings.
“I didn’t want you to live in fear,” he said, his voice low and almost pleading, but my ire wouldn’t leave me.
“You’re the one who always says knowledge is power, and yet here you are asking me to just…”