Chapter 28 Lightened Truths
TWENTY-EIGHT
LIGHTENED TRUTHS
Krellix
We travel slower than I like but I am in no hurry now that I have Julia safe with me once again.
I nearly lost her—almost had, once it became apparent Sada had crossed the river.
I was lucky that he was not spending any time trying to cover his tracks.
It was easy to pick his trail back up on the other side.
It only took me half the night to find it.
I was also lucky he had not gotten Julia very far.
And luckier still to find her unhurt by him. Mostly unhurt.
She cannot walk for long without having to catch her breath, similar to how Olivia struggled to breathe right at the end yesterday. It puts me on edge.
Once we get back to the river and it is time to cross over, I pick her up regardless of her complaints, assuring her that I will make certain she does not get wet again. But when we get to the other side, I refuse to release her, choosing to carry her for a time so she may rest her lungs.
“I’m fine. They’re just a little burned.”
“And your head?” I growl.
She sighs and rests it against me. “It still aches.”
“Then I will carry you.”
“I’m not used… to feeling like a… damsel in distress.”
My eyes narrow down at her. “Are you in distresssss?”
She closes her eyes, settling against me. “Not anymore.”
My muscles tense and pressure floods my middle, lengthening my shaft.
I try to push the sensations away but they only grow as I become increasingly aware of all the places where our bodies are touching.
Between desire, worry, and everything that just happened with Sada, my emotions are riotous.
I cannot catch a single one and conquer it before another comes along to take my focus.
Sada was also searching for his brother.
I should have killed him but I could not.
Instead, I felt his grief and… empathized.
Unlike him, I still do not have a clear answer as to what happened to my clan.
I will probably never know exactly what became of them at this point.
They would not have fled. They would have fought.
And if they had fought, they likely died, which is why they have been gone for nearly two years.
Their bodies may have been transported to some human or machine trash heap and buried too deep for me to find.
I shake my head. I have grieved my clan.
Sada is still grieving part of his. Perhaps now that he knows the truth, his grief will not be so burdensome.
The Boas and the Copperheads have never been at war, and though it seems we have both undergone trouble, it does not make sense to ignite a conflict now.
Not with everything else that is going on.
Right now, Julia and her safety is of the most importance.
I find a dense group of shrubs between several tightly-knit bushes and trees and batter it down with my tail, making us a small but enclosed camp just a little ways past the river.
Setting down Julia’s pack first, I gently place her on the ground in the middle of the smushed thicket.
Some of the grass springs back up to offer more camouflage. Good.
“We’re stopping? For how long?” she asks, drawing her legs under her and tugging her pack to her side.
“For the night.”
She tilts her head up at me. “It’s still… light out.”
“You have traveled enough today. It is time for you to get some food and rest.”
“Are you… sure it’s safe?”
“No. But it never truly is, is it?”
She slowly smiles and it makes my own lips twitch. “A joke? That’s new... And true.”
She goes quiet as she turns away and opens her pack. She pulls out her canteen, opening the top and taking a big gulp. When she is done, I reach for it. “Give it to me and I will fill it. We are still close to the river and there is a creek emptying into it closer still.”
Julia gives me the canteen and shifts her eyes to the side. “I think… I can hear it.”
I nod and turn away, leaving her briefly to refill her water in the creek. Once the canteen is full, I put it aside on the dry ground to rinse the dirt and blood off me. In the process, the palm of my hand skates over my bulge and a low hiss slides out of my throat.
She is hurt—tired. I should not want her so badly in such a state. I should focus all of my attention on her recovery.
When I return, she has pulled off her boots and socks and is in the process of massaging her feet. Handing her the full canteen, she thanks me and pours a little over them, rinsing them off.
Curious, I watch as she takes several shallow sips next.
Gaze moving between me and her pack, she sets down her water to dig within it until she locates what she is looking for and takes out a brush.
I watch her begin to jerkily run the brush through her long hair.
She watches me back. Watches me watch her.
I force my eyes away when the pressure within me builds into something harder to dismiss.
“Are you okay?” she asks as I coil my tail around her and lower my upper half closer to the ground.
“You are here and ssssafe.”
“That’s not what I asked…” She scrutinizes me as she runs her comb through her hair, elongating the strands as the waves are pulled taut and the knots are worked out. “You’ve been… I don’t know. Quiet.”
“I have had a lot on my mind.”
She frowns and shifts her legs to criss-cross in front of her. My eyes dip to her crux before I quickly look away.
“If it’s me breaking off from the group’s formation, I didn’t mean to. One moment I was talking to Benjamin… the next he was there,” she starts to say—
“That issss not it. I also should have been paying more attention and had you up with me in the front.”
Olivia needed my help but so did Julia. I knew putting my strongest at the back of the formation would make us all safer but in this case the strongest was also the most endangered. I could have put one of the males.
“No, Krellix. I should’ve been paying more attention.” Her shoulders slump as she struggles through a tangle. “I should’ve told Benjamin to keep walking.”
“It does not matter anymore. You are safe and that is all I care about.”
“So then… what’s on your… mind?” She glances around and up at the canopy, to the bushes above us. “Because I know you well enough by now to know when you’re acting strangely.”
I frown at her as I try to come up with the words to explain. “Sada,” I eventually say, giving in.
“Is it because of his brother?”
I nod and press my tail closer around her.
“I thought it might have something to do with that… You’re still thinking about your family.”
Wishing she were less astute, I admire her softly beautiful features, her partially-brushed, thick dark hair. I fist my hands rather than succumb to the urge to touch it. “What do you mean?”
She gives up with a curse and places her brush back into her pack, afterwards pulling out a ration of jerky and tearing open its cloth packaging. “Daisy told me some things about your clan… I… I don’t want to pry though.”
“Daisy?”
She shrugs. “I think she might know because of Zaku, since you guys talk. I figured after Sada mentioned searching for his brother, it might have triggered something for you…”
She knows.
She knows I lost my clan. She, unlike most others, knows I believe them dead. Only Zaku knows that—and perhaps Zhallaix, Vagan, and Vruskha. But I told no one directly except for Zaku. I never expected such information would make its way to Julia before I told her.
But it makes sense. Daisy and Julia were almost always together with the children these past months. Of course they would talk.
But talk about me?
Eyeing Julia sharply, I wonder how often I might have been on her mind.
Because she has often been on mine.
“You are partially right,” I say slowly, uncertain if Julia even wants to hear more about me and my clan’s history. “I am thinking of his search for his brother. It was not you he was after, but him.”
She nods in agreement. “He told me he wasn’t going to hurt me. I don’t know if I believed him though.” She reaches up and touches the scratches on her neck.
Reminded of the damage Sada caused her, I hiss. She might have brushed her hair and straightened her clothing but her face is still pinched with strain and her voice is rough. Every word she speaks makes her wince. Even her breathing makes her flinch.
“I should have killed him,” I growl, regretting my decision on Julia’s behalf.
“Oh stop.” She flaps her hand. “It’s not him who did this to me. I did this all on my own. Except the head bump—” she rubs her brow with her palm “—that was you guys. But it’s not that bad. I’ll get over it soon…”
I reach forward and drift my fingers over the spot she just rubbed, and she peers up at me.
Her dark brown eyes take me in, glimmering in the evening light.
Her words trail off as I lower my hand to run my fingers down her cheek and along her jaw, eventually dropping them further to her chest. There, I make a fist and draw my hand back within my control.
“Krellix,” she whispers.
“I am glad you are… here.”
She tilts her head and her long hair falls over her shoulder. “Me too,” she says softly, still watching me.
“About your question,” I grunt, massaging the crushing ache in my chest away. “I was also thinking of you.”
“You… were?” She frowns, dropping her eyes briefly to my middle. “What about… exactly?”