Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Princess.”
My eyelids flutter open, despite my eyes feeling heavy and grainy. Weston stands beside the bed, shaking my foot lightly, and I groan loudly, pulling the bedding higher up on my face.
“We need to leave,” he says, his voice low as if he’s trying not to wake anyone, even though I’m the only other person in the room. “I let you sleep as long as I could.”
That small kindness makes something in my chest ache.
With all the other ways he’s tried to make me uncomfortable since capturing me, he could have done the same this morning, waking me early so I was miserable for the rest of the day.
But he didn’t. After all the friendship talk last night, it makes me think he actually listened to Sig and is trying to not make me hate them.
It’s too early to be feeling so many things.
“I’m coming,” I mumble as I throw the sheets back and slide off the side of the bed. As I stand, Weston’s shirt falls over my thighs, from where it had pooled around my hips in sleep.
He clears his throat and tosses my dagger down on the bed as I bend down to grab my pile of clean clothes.
“Meet me on deck.”
I’m too tired to care about what he might have seen, so I just nod and cover my mouth to stifle a yawn. Footsteps ring through the room as he heads out the door, leaving it cracked so I can follow.
He hasn’t told me where we are going, but by the way he’s talking, I assume it will just be the two of us. I’ve avoided spending as much time with him as I can, but this may be an opportunity to play nice, especially if he already is.
The suns have not risen when I step onto the deck. The early morning is still, the only sound being the slow crashing of waves in the cove. Weston stands alone by the gangway, his body covered with weapons just as he was last night, but my eye catches on something he didn’t have before.
A bow.
Why does he have a bow this time?
I clasp my hands behind me, stretching my arms and shoulders as I walk over to him. He doesn’t spare me a glance before he’s bounding down the gangway, calling out over his shoulder.
“We need to move fast. We’re running out of time. Follow me.”
I bound down the boards behind him, wondering where the fuck he got all this energy after having a shift last night, but I feel dead.
Regardless of my fatigue, my steps have become more sure of the uneven land and beach during my time on shift, and I’m not as worried about falling into the water as I was weeks ago.
Weston steps to the side of the portal, waiting for me to pass through before him and following a breath later. Now that we’re safely in the tunnel, he doesn’t seem as rushed, his steps slow and measured, so I can easily keep up with him.
Neither of us speaks, and after his prodding and teasing last night, it feels like a step backward. If I’m going to make strides befriending him, I need to do something about it.
“Did you find any clues last night?” I ask.
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Silence.
I try again, brushing off his non-conversational answer as the effects of the early morning.
“Where did you look?”
“We were out in the dunes,” he says, short and clipped.
My teeth worry my lower lip. I don’t think he’s upset with me. I had done nothing between now and falling asleep last night after his teasing, so it must just be from a severe lack of sleep.
Or he regrets saying we are friends.
I try again. “Did you see anyone?”
He glances down at me before looking back at the tunnel ahead. “I didn’t see your boyfriend.”
I can understand that he would think I was asking about Dane, but honestly, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
I don’t know how many Voyagers Dane has allowed out after dark now that he and Storm were patrolling, and my question was out of pure curiosity, not out of seeking any morsel of Dane that I could.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“That’s what you meant, though.” His gaze is unmoving, but his jaw tightens slightly.
I roll my eyes, knowing he won’t see it, and shut my mouth. If he doesn’t want to talk, then I won’t talk. We can spend the rest of the day in silence wherever we are going.
The tunnel ahead splits, and we veer to the left, opposite of the direction I have gone with the girls on our shifts.
After a few more minutes in silence, Weston takes an abrupt turn into a short tunnel that looks to end just ahead.
As we get closer to the packed dirt wall, I spot the way out.
Handholds carved into the wall lead up into a circular passageway with no light at the end.
Weston steps to the side and motions toward the wall.
“After you, princess.”
I start to climb, too aware of Weston following right behind me, until I reach the top of the tunnel.
The roof overhead is wooden, so I press my hand to the boards and they move, flipping up and opening a trapdoor.
The boards clatter on the other side as I climb through and look at the structure around me.
A wooden, circular space surrounds the trapdoor, with large windows open to the surrounding island.
Hooking my knee over the lip of the opening, I pull my body up and crawl across the floor, leaving enough space for Weston to follow.
I grip the half wall railing and pull myself up, looking around for the first time.
The balcony railing runs along the entire structure, and light pours in through the open sides. We’re surrounded by tropical trees, but hidden from the beating suns by a wooden roof that looks to have the seams of another trapdoor.
I spin slowly, taking in this new spot on the island I never knew existed, just as Weston lifts himself through the opening.
The already comfortable space feels even smaller with both of us occupying it, his hulking frame taking up much of the open space with the hole in the middle of the floor.
He rectifies that quickly, bending down to flip the boards back into place so there’s now a little more room to walk.
I clear my throat and turn toward the railing, peering through the thick trees to determine where on the island we are.
We’re inside a lookout, like the stone turrets at the edges of my castle, somewhere high in the trees.
The loud crash of water booms around us, and I circle around the railing until I see it.
From here, there is a perfect view of the waterfall and the lagoon below, but we’re positioned out of the way just enough that I can see down the path on both sides of the bridge and watch anyone coming toward it.
They surveil the entrance.
I spin to face Weston, my jaw slack as my mind reels. He’s leaning against the railing opposite me, arms crossed over his chest, watching me piece things together.
“This is how you take the Voyagers? You watch to see who goes in?”
He nods.
All this time, the Voyagers have feared being outside of camp at night, assuming the Castaways never were on the island during the day, but in reality, they were. Someone sits here, day after day, watching them walk past the one thing they came here for.
“So it’s not just nighttime shifts. Someone sits here all day and waits?”
“Yes.”
“You dragged me out of bed before dawn but won’t speak. Are you ever going to say anything more than a few words at a time?” I say, not bothering to hide my annoyance any longer.
The corner of his lips tip up. “We’ll see.”
“Ugh, you’re infuriating,” I groan, rolling my eyes and angling back toward the waterfall.
He chuckles. “Sig tells me that all the time.”
“Well, she’s right.”
“Something tells me if I tried to explain anything, you wouldn’t believe me. It’s better you just figure it out yourself.”
My head snaps back toward him with a glare. “Excuse me for not being able to trust someone who takes us against our will.”
“I know that’s what you’ve been told, but I’m not out to get everyone. I have my reasons.”
My eyebrows raise. This is the first time Weston has ever brought up anything about his reputation or interactions with the Voyagers, and he’s outright denying it. But is he telling the truth? If he is, he wouldn’t have to hide his reasons.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Seems like something anyone would say to get people to side with them.”
He doesn’t say anything more, his face a neutral mask as he watches me. If he won’t explain or give me any answers, I’m going to ignore it. He might be trying to get me to believe him, but I’m also trying to get him to believe me, and that is what I need to focus on.
“So I’m just stuck here with you all day?” I say.
“Fortunately for you.”
I snort and immediately picture the appalled look that would be on Tila’s face if she were here. “Was that a joke?”
His eyes sparkle with laughter and I can’t tell if it is at his attempt at a joke, or my snort.
“Maybe.”
“It wasn’t funny,” I say, but have trouble hiding my smile.
Maybe there is hope that he isn’t regretting this budding fake friendship if he’s joking with me again.
He pushes off the rail and walks over to my side of the lookout. “I can take the first watch. I know you’re probably still tired. You can sit and get some rest.”
I step out of his way, putting as much space between us as possible in the close quarters, and slide down the wall to sit across from him.
I am exhausted, but this is too good of an opportunity to let go.
Spending all day with only each other could help me learn more and convince him I’m warming up to his plot.
“What happens if someone finds the entrance? What do we do?”
Weston gestures to the trapdoor on the roof.
“Did Fin tell you about his job?”
I nod. “Jorn did.”
“There’s a helio here too. If someone finds it, we signal the ship and make our way back. Then we go meet them at the exit.”
“That’s it?” I ask.
“That’s it.”
“I can’t believe you just sit here, every day, watching. Doesn’t it get boring?” I ask.