Chapter 24 #2
“Maybe whoever made that map didn’t want anyone to know about it,” Birdie said. “Check it out after we eat. See for yourself.”
“Sure,” Stone said, his voice still a bit breathless.
“I’m going to clean up first,” Aesira said but what she meant was she needed to see it with her own eyes. Water. Water freely flowing from somewhere that wasn’t Piscis Spring. That wasn’t a gift from Celestria.
“Just around that group of trees,” Bee said, “down the hill.”
Stone crouched to start a fire, but turned and smiled at her over his shoulder, sending a shiver down her spine and Aesira considered the very real possibility that even though she thought she was in charge here, maybe he had more power over her than she liked to admit.
There was water.
Actual, free-flowing from the earth, ready to cup in your hand and drink water.
Aesira slid her boots off, toeing the waters edge. It was freezing but it felt too good to have the fresh water trickling over her bare feet to care.
She cupped her hands full and splashed her face. Large trees bracketed each side of the pool and beyond that, red, jagged rocks were illuminated by the setting sun.
Novaria had trees, but nothing like the ones here. Here, they stretched to the skies, the bark as rich as the dirt and the leaves pointy and deep green. She laid back on the rock and watched through an opening in the canopy as stars began to dot the newly night sky.
Kamari would love this.
The trees and the sky and the bubbling sound of the brook.
Guilt cramped her stomach so Aesira sat up and braided her hair, giving her hands and mind a purpose.
If Stone was right, they were only two days from Ravki.
Two days from getting answers and then they’d be heading home where she would have to face Kamari and all the truths about their journey.
About the possibility of astra. About the water.
About how she’d been reassigned and she hadn’t told her.
And more than anything, if they didn’t find Desmond, she would have to lay out all her failures for everyone to chastise.
Again.
Footsteps through the forest grabbed her attention. Stone stepped through the small clearing as she finished tying off her braid.
“Did you get lost?” she teased. He tossed her one of the dry meals they’d packed.
She picked at the stale bread and dates while she and Stone watched the moon rise. The trees groaned as a breeze struck, their branches swaying, cutting sharp shadows over the water's surface. “I didn’t think you’d come,” she said.
Stone’s glasses were off, tucked in his front pocket. He rubbed his eyes. “I wanted to come, Bee just wouldn’t shut up. And I could never tell her to.”
Aesira smiled. Of all the cadre, Bee was the most suited to her name.
She was sweet, like honey, but could sting when necessary.
She couldn’t picture how Stone had gotten his name.
Nothing he’d done or said had proven him to be hardened, but she supposed she didn’t know him well enough. At least not yet.
Yet.
A tiny word that held such power. Like there would ever be a yet. They were pretending, she reminded herself. Only for now they were just two people who had the option to kiss freely and not think of the consequences.
Stone walked to the water’s edge and she traced his body in the moonlight. Broad shoulders and lean frame. Corded muscles flexed in his forearms as he pushed up his sleeves and scrubbed his hands and face. “It’s fucking freezing.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Are you coming in?”
“What?”
“Coming in,” he said, peeling off his shirt, then his pants. “I don’t know about you, but four days of travel and I could use a bath.” He tossed his clothes in a messy pile then dove into the water.
“Stone!” She sat up, watching the water’s surface. He popped up less than a minute later, his hair swept back, water dripping from his brows and nose.
“Well?” There was a challenge in his voice, a dare. She weighed the consequences of joining Stone in the water, especially with how they left things earlier.
Do you want to pretend?
The night air nipped at her bare skin as she peeled her clothes off, layer by layer.
Stone tried and failed to keep his eyes anywhere but on her, but when she tossed the final layer on the ground and stood in just her underclothes, he didn’t try to hide his face anymore.
He drank in every inch as she stepped into the water, moonlight rippling around them.
Her face bunched, the water numbing her toes and then her hips but eventually her body adjusted and then it felt refreshing.
Divine.
Sinful.
People at home would be rationing water by now, waiting for Celestria to fill the wells after Naming Day. And here they were, bathing in it, treating it like excess.
“Can you swim?” she asked, inching closer, making sure to not go farther than waist deep.
“No,” he said. “Are you offering to teach me?” He drifted closer, not quite touching, but close enough for her body to steal some of his heat.
“I hardly know how, myself.” She looked up. The moon was still a sliver in the sky, perched right in the center of the canopy opening. “I’ve never seen trees like this,” she said. “I’ve seen paintings. Read about them. But this is…”
“Beautiful.” She didn’t look at him, didn’t need to because she could feel him looking at her. He closed the small gap between them. “You are beautiful.” Her legs wrapped around his waist, his hands immediately finding the deep curve of her hips.
Pretending, she reminded herself.
They were just pretending.
“Can I tell you something?” he asked.
“Hm?”
“I lied to you before.” Stone’s hands traced her back, her hips.
“About what?” She leaned back so she could see his face. He looked pained, like whatever he was about to tell her would shatter their facade, would destroy their new pretend personalities. “What, Stone?”
He licked his lips, his eyes darting to her mouth for a moment before he looked at her again. “I dreamt of you.”