Chapter Sixteen
Kenyon
I was dragging, even if I tried not to show it. I didn’t want anyone worrying about me, and to be honest, I’d had it the easiest.
Still, while between Yun and me, we’d gotten everyone else back up to snuff through healing and guiding, it meant we were more run down. She dealt with it well, her body easily turning that corruption into usable energy, but me?
Saving Ingram hadn’t been easy, and Shear had ended up with a concussion and a few broken ribs. Getting them both on their feet had taken damn near every speck of power I had.
The issue was less about the amount of corruption inside of me, so it wasn’t something Yun could fix, and more about the need for some rest.
Which wasn’t happening today, so I shoved that to the back of my mind as we approached the portal.
We passed by other espers, though few gave us a second glance. Instead, they focused on their own tasks, and the number of bleeding and wounded civilians who were rushed through the open portal went to show they were busy.
It was nothing short of a war zone here, like a natural disaster had struck. One had, hadn’t it? I shuddered to think of just how many casualties would rack up by the end.
We wouldn’t ever get the full answer. The Guild liked to change the numbers to make it seem as though they’d done more, for one.
Even that was a balancing act, however, having to decide between having the public realize the importance of the Guild while also not making it seem as though we weren’t doing our jobs.
Beyond that, the real number was nearly impossible to find out, given the massive nature of a stable dungeon like this, especially since so many bodies were never found.
When the portal closed, so many civilians would be trapped inside, never to be seen again, never to be accounted for.
It meant many were never marked as dead, just as missing.
I always hated working the inside of a portal, seeing the fear, hearing the stories of those who didn’t make it out, of those who were trapped too far away.
Decisions had to be made at times like this, and they weren’t always easy.
Sometimes someone was too far out, surrounded by too many monsters, or resources could only go to one place.
It meant there were times when someone had to be sacrificed, when we had to turn our backs on people who needed help to do the most good.
I’d made that choice plenty of times, especially as a healer. I’d let one person die because I couldn’t save them, instead focusing on those I could save.
It never got any easier, though, and seeing the dirty, limping, crying civilians hustled toward the glowing portal really brought it all back to basics.
“I can’t believe we made it.” Yun looked up at the portal, craning her neck to take it all in. Then again, when she’d been trapped here before, she’d never managed to make it to the actual portal. It must look different up close.
“We were always going to make it,” Carter said, though I knew his tone well enough to hear the lie in that. “I like to make you worry so you think we’re more heroic. Just hoping you have some hero kink.”
She cast him a look that wasn’t angry, one that reminded me of affectionate annoyance, as though she cared for him but he really tested her at times.
He only smiled back wider, having hidden his eyes yet again. “All right, Yun. Let’s get you through it.”
Yun hesitated. “Does it hurt?”
Right. She’d never actually crossed a portal before.
Instead, she’d ended up trapped inside two dungeons when they’d opened, and when she’d returned, it had been through a tear, not a portal.
I’d crossed these so many times in my life that I had forgotten how overwhelming they might look to someone who didn’t know much about them.
“Not at all,” Ingram said, having recovered well and showing no signs of his earlier brush with a very painful death. “It tingles—sort of nice.”
“Is that why you’re always horny after a dungeon?”
“No, Spark, that’s all just from seeing you on the other side.” Ingram smirked then cocked up an eyebrow. “See, you’re doing it to me now. I wouldn’t mind showing you right here, in front of everyone.”
He phrased it as though it were a joke, but I knew better than to take it that way. If she gave him a yes, Ingram had no issue bending her over anything right here, in the middle of a dungeon, in front of countless espers, and fucking her.
The man had no shame.
I wasn’t into that, but damn it, I wouldn’t mind watching it…
Maybe I’m not as innocent as I want to pretend…
A slight zing in my head had me glancing in Shear’s direction, his stern expression saying he’d caught the stray idea. I shrugged, as though to remind him he was no better. He’d have participated himself if given the chance.
I didn’t get a second zap, which suggested he knew I was right.
“I just step through? I don’t need to have like, a running start? What if I don’t have enough momentum? Will I end up stuck between?” Her words picked up speed as she spoke, like going down a slide, losing control of herself.
Ingram grasped her hand, holding her tight.
“I deal with the space between the realms, right? You won’t get stuck, but even if you did?
I’d get you out.” He seemed to go to release her hand, but she didn’t let go.
He stared down, then chuckled. “You want to hold my hand when we go through? How are you this fucking cute?” He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it, the touch oddly sweet, especially after his previous offer to fuck her right there. “All right, let’s go.”
Ingram stepped through first, holding her, tugging softly to get Yun moving. She went forward as well—dragged somewhat—until their hands touched the surface of the portal.
It sparked brightly for a moment, then turned so dark it nearly disappeared, purple swirling on the horizon of it to mirror the sky. Ingram pulled, but nothing changed, as though the portal rejected her entirely.
He came back through, looking around as though he thought someone on this side had held her. He tried to push her forward, using where they still held hands, to press against the surface, but the same thing happened again.
Yun couldn’t leave the dungeon…