Chapter 32 #2
In an instant, Bridger was in between them, towering over Leo.
“Call her that one more fucking time, and I’ll mount your head in my cell like a trophy.
” His anger shook the cave walls, small pebbles falling from the ceiling.
Bridger’s soldiers froze, and the others soon followed.
“Enough.” A whisper was all it took to quiet the room.
Leo’s Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed, nodding tightly to show he understood his threat.
Bridger shifted his attention from Leo to the group of pale-faced soldiers. “My whereabouts and the reason I’m choosing to stay in a cell are not up for debate. The in-fighting stops now, or we’ve already lost this war, and we might as well surrender now.”
“Sir, what’s the plan here?” the girl with the scar asked. “We can’t hide in the caves forever. We won’t…”
Bridger let the question fall on Vega’s shoulders, shifting the room’s focus with his gaze.
Everyone stared, waiting. Vega felt the weight of every life in this room, knew what she’d traded her soul for.
Because that’s what I did… I traded my soul for the darkness inside me. For death.
Her dark pet fluttered its wings, reminding her it hadn’t retreated back to the depths where it disappeared to sometimes, doing gods knows what while gone. It rested itself on the edge, a hind leg hanging down lazily.
“C’mon, Kitten. Don’t be shy now.”
Bridger’s words sparked something inside her—she’d never felt like a leader. Not when most of her life had been spent trying to find herself… but Vega was the reason the four were bonded at all.
Vega shared a look with Arlet, and it didn’t matter they couldn’t talk internally—she could feel her answer.
Taking a deep breath, Vega made the decision they should have made days ago. “Vincere.” Bridger’s soldiers perked at the mention of what was obviously their home. “We move to Vincere,” Vega declared.
“When?” someone asked through growing excitement.
“As soon as possible.” Vega would deal with Khort later.
She had to get their people to safety. Vega didn’t know what kind of time limit she had. How long would it take for the darkness—
“Death.” The shadow shifter sat up, stretching like a cat waking from its nap. It shook its shadowy wings, their shape reforming once settled.
Vega felt like she was in two places at once. Physically in the real world, fighting to remain calm, and stuck inside her head with the dark—No, wait.
It corrected her… Death. Not darkness.
“Death,” Vega repeated.
The shadow dragon nodded. “Us.” It leapt down the pit, leaving Vega to feel hollow in a way that made her sick to her stomach.
Bridger’s fingers stroked over Vega’s pulse at her wrist, bringing attention to the rapid beat of her heart. “Are you okay?”
She couldn’t hide from Bridger…
Vega wanted to be annoyed that his touch was the distraction she needed, but she was too grateful to escape the alternate reality in her mind to spend a moment griping. “Better now,” she replied honestly, even if she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“We don’t have time for division.” His eyes trailed over the group.
Bridger’s fingertips grazed Vega’s delicately before returning to his side.
“Learn to work together or find a way to accept your imminent death.” His words left the group silent, their two unfavorable options staring them in the face. “Get back to training.”
Bridger made his order, and then turned to leave without saying goodbye.
“I hope you’re prepared for the fit Khort’s going to throw when he finds out we made this decision without him,” Arlet said, grabbing her belongings from the floor.
“I’d rather he throw a fit than lose more lives because he’s letting his ego get in the way.” Vega hugged Arlet tight. “Stay safe tonight. I love you.”
Arlet was taking the overnight sky shift, letting Khort have the night off.
“I love you too,” Arlet told her before Vega jogged after Bridger.
She caught up to Leo first, reaching out to grab his arm. A flash of Jak’s horrified face running from Vega made her hand fall to her side. “New assignment. Go make sure they don’t kill each other in there, please.”
“What about Bridger?” he asked hesitantly.
“I can handle Bridger,” Vega answered. “Plus, it’s probably not safe to leave you two in a room alone together for a while.
” She spun and walked backwards, still facing him as he stayed back.
“Since Loose Lips Leo can’t keep a gods-damned secret.
” She smiled smugly and popped her shoulders, turning her back to him.
“You know what, Vega Caelum? I hope he handles you real good. Maybe it’ll make you nicer to your friends!” Leo’s infectious laugh broke the tension forming in Vega’s muscles.
“Where are you going?” she asked, catching up to Bridger who moseyed at a much slower pace than he normally did.
“Back to my cell until you summon me again. I’m like your own personal god you pray to when you’re bored or need backup.” He ticked his head and raised a brow, ready for Vega to argue.
She tingled all over from the playful look in his eyes.
“You caught me…” Vega sighed, toying along.
“I didn’t even get to start praying for the good stuff yet.
I had so much to ask for.” She pouted, jutting her bottom lip out.
She watched Bridger’s eyes dart to it and linger until they pulled into a smile.
“How does a frigid cold shower sound?” Vega asked, quickly adding, “Not with me.” Bridger mimicked her pouting.
Vega ignored it. “But I’m headed to the houses outside the cave and just figured—”
“You wanted to spend a little time with me,” Bridger cooed. His husky voice inside Vega’s head might not ever be something she got used to.
“No.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “That you’d want a real shower for the first time in gods knows how long. Sponge baths aren’t cutting it.” She scrunched her nose and waved her hand in front. “It’s why no one wants to let you out of there yet.” Vega nodded to the cell.
He didn’t stink, but she couldn’t let him know it was actually because she wanted to be alone with him outside his cell for more than a few minutes.
Bridger chuckled, shaking his head. “Fine, but know I’m only coming because I don’t think you should venture out by yourself and not because I think I actually stink.” He sniffed his shirt’s collar anyway.
On the way out, Vega grabbed their weapons from the bonded’s private arsenal. When Bridger hummed his approval for being reunited with his bonded blades, Vega imagined that vibration somewhere else… No! Scolding herself didn’t actually seem to work, but she did it anyway.
Vega knew they didn’t need to complicate things more than they already had, but it also didn’t mean she’d stopped thinking about what they’d done in the back of that Escalade on Earth.
Vega cleared her throat and sheathed her daggers at her thigh.
Bridger’s nimble fingers slid over the chip in his sword, his eyes wandering to the ring Vega hadn’t taken off since her last life.
“Why did you start wearing it again?” He finally asked the question he’d been wondering since he’d noticed it on Earth the first time.
Vega didn’t answer right away. She wasn’t sure why she felt an attachment to the ring again. Maybe it was as simple as the ring being one of the most gorgeous pieces of jewelry Vega had ever seen… or because throwing it in the Sea of Ros hadn’t made her stop loving him like she’d hoped it would.
They sank into the tree line unnoticed before Vega spoke. “It feels right.” There was no other way to describe it.
“Why do you still use a broken sword? You can rebond to something new.” Vega was genuinely curious to hear his answer. A ring made from the chip in a sword was one thing, but a chipped sword was against the army’s regulations.
Fortis-born warriors had special connections to weapons forged by a metallurgist in Ardor, bonding their powers and increasing their strength when using them.
Khort had a sword.
Arlet had a double edged blade known as a swallow.
And Vega had her dagger.
It was all thanks to their bond with Bridger.
“It’s chipped, not broken.” He defended the sword in his grasp, the blackness of the blade twinkling in the low evening sun like her ring did. “Getting rid of the sword would have felt like officially going back on the promise I made when I gave you the ring.”
We are so fucked.
When they reached the small village a few minutes later, they both naturally quieted to focus on their surroundings.
Vega and Bridger would be a nice duo to hand over to Marlena…
At the end of the row of small homes, there was a cottage with a broken window and a front door hanging on for dear life by a single hinge—but it at least had two working showers.
The rest of the homes in the neighborhood had been checked through, ravaged for whatever could be used inside the caves.
Vega wiggled her boot under the crack in the door and yanked it open.
Bridger had to duck under a corner of the ceiling that had caved in since the last time Vega was here a few days ago.
“There’s no way this place still has running water,” Bridger commented, looking around at the remains.
“Amazing, I know. The water pressure sucks, and it’s painfully cold before you get used to it, but at least you get clean. No one’s willing to be out in the open at the river, so this is what everyone’s been using.” The showers wouldn’t hold up for much longer.
A patchwork couch sat against the back wall, making the place smell of damp mildew. The home sat in an alcove of trees off the main road, and despite the broken windows letting fresh air in, it got little to no breeze tucked in this tight.
“I’ve been so spoiled.” Bridger looked out of place. Even in his donated clothing, he looked like he belonged somewhere else. Like a handsome actor playing a part in a movie he only got because of his good looks.