Chapter 20 #2
A figure kneeled down in front of me. I looked up, wincing, ready for another roar or even a blow, considering how much these people hated me.
Felix was staring at me cautiously. His eyes flickered between mine, his brows slightly crinkled in thought.
My heart clenched as I looked into that blue gaze. He and Felicity had avoided me all day, barely glancing at me.
“Why?” he asked, his voice frailer than I’d ever heard it. “Why did you lie to us?”
To me. The unspoken words were clear from the hurt expression on his face. Felicity hovered uncertainly behind him but stayed close enough to listen. Good, I wanted her to hear this too.
I stopped fumbling with the clasp to give him my full attention. He deserved that and so much more, after all.
Just the fact that he’d approached me, now that I was a traitor, was a huge gesture. I saw the rebels around us shoot judgmental looks at him behind his back. He continued to stare at me, awaiting a reason that could justify my actions.
“I have a sister,” I said, looking down at the tattoo on my arm. Felix took my arm gently, guiding it upwards for him to study. My other arm followed limply, the cuffs rattling menacingly between us as if they needed to remind him of what I’d done.
“A sister?” his expression softened as he looked from my arm to my face. “Older or younger?”
“Younger,” I said. “By six years.”
He nodded absentmindedly, brows crinkling in thought.
“Felix, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you,” I pleaded apologetically. “Trust me, I wanted to. But her life was in danger, and now—” I trailed off, choking on the last words that refused to leave my mouth.
“I should’ve given you a chance to explain yourself.
You’re one of my closest friends. This cause,” he said, looking around at his fellow rebels.
“It’s been my life ever since I can remember.
Any threat makes me see red. Until someone tells me to grow up and see the nuance of the situation.
” He shot Felicity a look over his shoulder.
I laughed. I’d missed him so much. His bubbly mood and constant teasing had made me feel welcome the moment I’d met him.
“Thank you,” I felt my eyes turn glossy. “I hoped you’d understand once I told you about my sister.”
“You bound yourself to her?” he asked, twisting my forearm gently to study the entire symbol of the crescent moon that decorated my arm.
“I bound myself to a crystal,” I corrected him with a sad smile. “That isn’t in her possession anymore. She—” my voice broke, and I averted my gaze to the ground. I couldn’t say it. I just couldn’t.
“Is she hurt?” he asked, his eyes flashing with pity. He had Felicity. He could undoubtedly imagine what it would be like to lose her.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, wiping a tear from my cheek with my hands. “There’s a Defender… I think he has her.”
“Prue,” he said softly, taking my hands in his with renewed sympathy. Even if my whole world felt like it was collapsing around me, his compassion and forgiveness shone a tiny light in the darkness.
Felicity sat down next to Felix, shooting me an uncertain smile. “I was never mad at you, just confused,” she said, hitting Felix on the arm. “He was the one who told me I shouldn’t go talk to you. Stupid me, why did I even listen to him.”
He rolled his eyes, bumping his sister with his shoulder.
I couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but it means everything to me that I have it.”
The twins engulfed me in a hug, my chained hands remaining in my lap as I leaned in. Over Felix’ broad shoulder, my gaze landed on a pair of dark eyes already staring at me.
My stomach gave a jolt at the look on Daegal’s face.
His lips had parted, just slightly, but enough to tell me that he was puzzled.
His head was tilted slightly to one side, causing his curls to cascade messily down his brow.
The chain connecting me to him was tied lazily around his hips, but he loosened the knot with quick fingers, not taking his eyes off me once.
I withdrew from the twin’s embrace. “Can you help me with this?” I asked in a pathetic voice, gesturing to my bedroll still held tightly together by the last clasp.
Felix rolled out my bed, while Felicity went to get theirs, dragging them across the ground to toss them next to mine.
Daegal hurriedly dragged his own bed to lay it on the other side of me, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “You’re my convict. Only I have the key to those cuffs. Just in case you get any ideas that the twins might let you go.”
“Are we getting a little possessive, Dae?” Felix chuckled.
“Remove that mighty stick from your ass, Daegal,” Felicity jumped in as well, rolling her eyes. “Maybe if you listened to her, you’d have a little sympathy.”
I stifled a laugh that made the angry sun-devil yank the chain so hard I was forced to my feet. He hovered above me, but I lifted my chin and stood my ground.
“Do you have anything to say?” I asked tauntingly. “Or is it hard to talk with that stick up your—”
“Enough.” His voice was a whisper, but his tone commanded my attention. “Just because the twins suddenly believe you doesn’t mean I do. Now shut up and go to sleep.”
I sat down on my rolled-out mattress with a huff, turning my back to Daegal who laid down next to me on his bed. Felix handed me an apple and some bread that I gratefully took.
I realized then, when my stomach released a low growl, that the steady supply of snacks the rebels had passed each other during the day had somehow also avoided me every single time.
“Have you tried contacting her again?” Felicity asked between bites of food, nodding at the symbol on my arm.
I nodded sadly, the growling in my stomach turning to a sinister lurching, as it did every time I thought about Lili. “No response.”
They looked at each other, and then Felix’s eyes flickered to my bound hands. “We can try to convince Daegal to let you go right after the mission,” he said.
“You’ll find you’ll be unsuccessful with that,” a cold voice said behind me. I turned around to shoot him a deadly look.
He had one hand folded under his neck, his face slightly turned to look at me through sleepy eyes. He’d wrapped the chain around his other hand several times, making it so short I barely had any room to move.
Deciding I didn’t want to be a part of his childish game, I turned back to chat with the twins.
“Won’t people judge you for speaking with the traitor?
” I asked, more irritated than I intended.
I knew the rebels had every right to be furious with me.
But some part of me still clung to Hannan’s words.
Your mother loved you more than anything. She would have done exactly what you did if it meant it would keep you safe.
Would the other rebels be as understanding if they knew the truth?
“We’re leaving before sunset, people!” Daegal yelled loudly behind me, making me flinch in surprise. “Go to sleep.”
The camp became quiet after that. I said good night to the twins and laid down, wrapping the thin blanket tightly around me.
The air had only cooled down more since sunset. The piercing wind settled deeply in my bones, causing tiny bumps to erupt all over my skin. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually been cold. It was always hot in Erobred, no matter the season.
Snores and heavy breathing slowly filled the quiet night, but I couldn’t sleep. For what felt like hours, I just laid there, looking up into the night sky. Like last time, the stars danced clearly above the camp, twinkling brightly in the darkness of the night.
I took a deep breath, trying to ease the tension and cold spreading through my body. Lili. Lili. Lili. My chant turned frantic. The chains rattled as my mind instinctively made to get up, to run into the night until I reached Erobred.
A loud sigh dragged me back to the desert. Daegal’s eyes found mine in the darkness. Then he moved closer, face hovering inches above mine. “You’re shaking like a damn leaf. Try not to wake up the whole camp,” he whispered angrily.
He raised his arm, and I flinched, but he only tossed half of his blanket over me, moving even closer to remain covered as well.
“There’s no way I’m sharing a blanket with you,” I hissed, moving to get away, only for the chain to stop my movements.
“Shut up,” he whispered, turning on his side to give me more room. “We have to be up in a few hours. Do you really want to argue about this now? I can’t sleep with your damn teeth chattering in my ear.”
I shot him one last glare before turning on my side, facing away from him.
The cold chain was draped across my waist because Daegal refused to let go of it.
Though he didn’t touch me, I could feel the heat radiating from his skin on my back.
I wondered briefly if he was using his magic to keep himself warm, but with the heavy weight of his much thicker blanket on top of me and the warmth spreading through my body, I finally fell asleep