Chapter 20
Fenric
“This must be the next trial,” I say, the pit in my stomach growing even though I try to laugh past the feeling.
“This is where the gods’ magic led us, so you’re guess is pretty accurate,” Thorian answers, not sounding happy.
Not that he sounds happy that often, but I've gotten good at telling which level of grumpy he's at, and this cave has him upset.
The four of us stare into the entrance to the cave, not speaking for a long minute. The darkness inside it is absolute. It’s not the kind that adjusts to, that softens as your eyes adapt. It’s the kind that simply swallows light whole, that seems to push back against the sunlight.
Thorian stands completely still beside me, like he’s calculating something. It's not fear exactly. With Thorian it's never quite fear. It's the controlled quiet of a man who is figuring out another way to avoid death.
Talon, for his part, is uncharacteristically silent. No quip, no raised eyebrow, nothing. He just stares into the dark with his jaw set.
And Nyx is so rigid beside me that I'm fairly certain her body has to be aching with the effort of it.
So far, all the trials have been out in the open, arguably too out in the open, like with the canyon, but none have been like this. In a cave. With no other hints as to what to expect.
“Well, what the hell do you think they’ve got waiting in there for us?” Talon asks.
“I don’t know,” I say, ribbing him with my elbow, “why don’t you turn into a bat and go find out for us?”
Thorian cuffs me upside the head, and I don’t have time to dodge.
“Hey!” I laugh, rubbing the back of my skull. “Since when are you on his side?”
“Come on, Fenny,” Talon says, turning to me with a smirk, clearly pleased that Thorian backed him up. So much for ganging up on the new guy. “We need to take this seriously.”
Thorian hits Talon, too, and the vampire turns, his laughing halting in its tracks as he mimics my pose, with one hand on the back of his head. “Wait—what did I do?”
“Too much sarcasm,” Thorian says, crossing his arms and staring into the cave, amusement buried deep in his tone, far underneath the steady determination. “Makes me think you’re not really trying to take this seriously at all.”
Talon rolls his eyes, “If taking things seriously was a requirement to be on the team, you should have told me before we consummated—”
This time, it’s Nyx who hits him on the head, and he whirls around pretending to try and catch her arm. If Talon wanted to, he would have, but this is flirting, plain and simple. She steps back, her face a deep scarlet.
“Thorian’s right,” she says, her blush impossibly adorable under the orange afternoon light. “We need to take this seriously.”
We all turn back to the cave, staring into the entrance, and I know that I should be thinking, strategizing, but it’s hard. The past three days have held both the most terrifying moment of my life and the most incredible… every second I've spent with Nyx.
When she’s near, it’s hard to think about anything except her.
The Veridra juice loosened something in all of us, burned away whatever hesitation or restraint had been building through the swamp, the graveyard, and every quiet moment when I'd looked at her and pulled myself back.
Under it, there was no calculation, no uncertainty.
Just her. The warmth of her, the way she'd looked at me like I was someone worth looking at, the soft sounds she made when I touched her.
She'd been nervous and brave at the same time, the way she is about everything, and I'd tried to be gentle enough to deserve the trust she was placing in us.
I'd never wanted to deserve something more in my life.
When Thorian directed me to go first, I hadn't thought about it. I'd just gone, grateful in a way I didn't have words for, careful with her in a way I hoped she felt.
I'd never been happier about anything.
“Get your head out of the gutter,” Talon whispers, dipping his head near mine, whispering conspiratorially.
Nyx doesn’t seem to hear, as she walks to the other side of the cave to examine the rock spilling outside of it, but Thorian does, and he shakes his head.
“The gutter isn’t the worst place to be when you’re thinking of Nyx,” I say, with a sigh.
“Don’t make me hit you again,” Thorian warns, turning to us. “If the other teams aren’t here yet, I’d wager they’re entering from their own locations.”
“Is that better or worse for us?” Talon asks, and Thorian considers his question, rubbing his hand along his chin.
“Not sure,” he says, turning back to the entrance. “It’ll be more unpredictable not knowing where they are. And the dark won't help. But whether it’s us surprising the other teams, or them surprising us, we’ll likely all meet somewhere beneath the ground, I bet…”
"I think this is igneous rock!" Nyx says, breathless with excitement as she returns to us, her face happily flushed, a few baby hairs escaping from her braid.
For a beat, the three of us just stare at her.
She's beautiful. I've thought it since the first moment I saw her, but it catches me off-guard still, the way it does when something is genuinely lovely rather than just technically so.
Her hazel eyes are bright with excitement, catching the torchlight, and her cheeks are flushed pink, and she looks so happy about igneous rock that my whole heart swells.
She doesn't seem to know what she looks like when she's like this, animated and curious and entirely herself, which somehow makes it worse.
Or better. I'm not sure there's a difference anymore.
I blink, remembering that she spoke and none of the three of us has responded. The others could be confused about what she said, but I'd wager they're just as bespelled by her as I am.
Just looking at her takes me back to this morning, and this time, Talon is the one ribbing me with his elbow. “Gutter,” he whispers.
“…and that means?” Thorian prompts, and Nyx gestures to the cave.
“Ivor is really into this stuff. He’d walk about our property and search for crystals. Igneous rock comes from volcanic activity. See how it’s smooth like that? I think there might be crystals inside.”
“Great. Any knowledge is better than none,” Thorian mutters. “What do we know about crystals?”
“They can hold magical energy,” Talon says, and when we turn to look at him, he shrugs. “Wealthy vampires love gems.”
“So, the warlocks might be able to use them against us?”
“I don’t know how it works,” Talon says, shrugging again. “Could be specific spells to enchant them. Could only be sensitive to certain magic users.”
“Great,” Thorian mutters, glancing again over his shoulder. “So the answer is that we know nothing, except that the warlocks might be able to use this against us.”
Talon glances at the sky. “We should probably get this over with before it gets dark.”
“Just… go in there?” Nyx asks, sounding nervous.
“The warlocks will have ways to light the dark. The shifters will be able to see a bit in the dark. Talon and I can see a bit in the dark, but the two of you? You’d be sitting ducks,” Thorian explains.
“We should make torches,” I offer, glancing at them.
“There’s the idea man,” Talon says, bopping me on the head. I knock his hand away, and catch Nyx watching us. I'm sure she likes it when we mess around with one another, and it makes me want to keep doing it.
“We’ll need long sticks, rags, and some sort of fuel to keep the fire going.”
“Fuel?”
“Could be animal fat, some sort of oil—”
“Nyx and I will get the fuel,” Thorian says, “the two of you find sticks and get them ready.”
“Perfect,” Talon mutters, as we turn and head into the woods, moving quickly. “Make the vampire play with fire.”
I find the first stick, thick enough to sustain, long enough that we won’t burn our hands with it, and Talon clears his throat.
“I've been thinking…” Talon begins.
“Finally! Good for you, man!”
He rolls his eyes. “More specifically about Nyx and us.”
“Enlighten me,” I say as I pick up another stick.
“You saved her life, huh? In the beginning, when the beasts were first released. I saw you.”
My stomach swoops. Where's this going? “Yeah. Used a staff against one of those monsters.”
Talon nods, finds a stick, and holds it up for me to inspect. I nod back. It should work.
“So…you were drawn to her from the start?” He glances at me with the last word, raising an eyebrow.
Of course it’s true. I don’t understand how a man could not be drawn to her. Or a woman, or anyone for that matter. She’s beautiful. Enchanting. Easy to love.
The moment I saw her in the banquet hall, I had to talk to her.
"I saved her from the flower in the garden," Talon says, almost to himself, crouching to inspect a stick before dropping it again. "Before any of this. Before I even knew who she was." He's quiet for a moment. "I didn't know why I did it. I just couldn't not."
“There’s just something about her, like I never want to be away from her,” I admit.
He stands and moves forward a few steps, then glances back at me. "Where do you think this is going?"
The words come easily. "We win. We save our families. And then we go to Nyx's lands and help her restore them. Together. As her husbands. Her family."
Talon stares at me.
"That easy?"
"It could be," I say. "Think about it. We're all in love with her.
" My throat tightens slightly on the words, but I don't take them back.
"We've all been willing to die for her. We all—" I pause, searching for the right way to say it.
"Last night wasn't awkward. It wasn't complicated.
Four people who barely know each other, and it felt completely natural. That means something."
Talon is quiet for a long moment, looking out into the trees.
"We fit," I say simply. "All four of us. I don't know how else to explain it, but we do."
Talon laughs then, low and genuine, shaking his head as he tosses a small stick back to the ground. "I suppose we are a good team when we're all focused on the same thing."