“Happens all the time,” he mutters.
I force a chuckle, a hollow sound.
“Let’s see that side, okay?”
As I twist to show him the shallow but long gash along my ribs, Cal takes the seat next to me. He offers a smile of his own.
Sorry, he mouths to me.
Sorry, I mouth back.
Even though I have nothing to be truly sorry for. For once. I’ve come through horrendous things, done horrendous things to survive. It’s easier this way. For now.
I don’t know why I pretend to sleep. As the healer does his work, my eyes slip closed and they stay that way for hours. I’ve dreamed of this moment for so long it’s almost overwhelming. The only thing I can do is lean back and breathe easy. I feel like a bomb. No sudden moves. Cal stays close to my side, his leg pressed up against mine. I hear him shift occasionally, but he doesn’t speak with the others. Neither does Cameron. Their attention is reserved for me.
Part of me wants to talk. Ask them about my family. Kilorn. Farley. What happened before, what’s happening now. Where the hell we’re even going. I can’t get past thinking the words. There’s only enough energy in me to feel relief. Cool, soothing relief. Cal is alive; Cameron is alive. I’m alive.
The others mutter among themselves, their voices low out of respect. Or they just don’t want to wake me up and risk another brush with fickle lightning.
Eavesdropping is second nature at this point. I catch a few words, enough to paint a hazy picture. Scarlet Guard, tactical success, Montfort. The last takes me a long moment of contemplation. I barely remember the newblood twins, envoys of another nation far away. Their faces blur in my memory. But I certainly remember their offer. Safe haven for newbloods, provided I accompany them. It unsettled me then and unsettles me now. If they’ve made an alliance with the Scarlet Guard—what was the price? My body tenses at the implication. Montfort wants me for something, that much is clear. And Montfort seems to have aided my rescue.
In my head, I brush against the electricity of the jet, letting it call to the electricity inside me. Something tells me this battle isn’t over yet.
The jet lands smoothly, touching down after sunset. I jump at the sensation and Cal reacts with catlike reflexes, his hand coming down on my wrist. I flinch away again with a spike of adrenaline.
“Sorry,” he sputters. “I—”
Despite my churning stomach, I force myself to calm down. I take his wrist in my hand, fingers brushing along the steel of his flamemaker bracelet.
“He kept me chained up. Silent Stone manacles, night and day,” I whisper. I tighten my grip, letting him feel a bit of what I remember. “I still can’t get them out of my head.”
His brow furrows over darkening eyes. I know pain intimately, but I can’t find the strength to see it in Cal. I drop my gaze, running a thumb along his hot skin. Another reminder that he is here and I am here. No matter what happens, there is always this.
He shifts, moving with his lethal grace, until I’m holding his hand. Our fingers lace and tighten. “I wish I could make you forget,” he says.
“That won’t help anything.”
“I know. But still.”
Cameron watches from across the aisle, one tapping leg crossed over the other. She looks almost amused when I glance at her. “Amazing,” she says.
I try not to bristle. My relationship with Cameron, though short, was not exactly smooth. In hindsight, my fault. Another in a long line of mistakes I desperately want to fix. “What?”
Grinning, she unstraps from her seat and stands as the jet slows. “You still haven’t asked where we’re going.”
“Anywhere’s better than where I was.” I throw a pointed glance at Cal and pull my hand away to fool with the buckles of my harness. “And I figured someone would fill me in.”
He shrugs as he gets up. “Waiting for the right time. Didn’t want to overload you.”
For the first time in a long time, I truly laugh. “That is an absolutely horrific pun.”
His wide smile matches mine. “Does the job.”
“This is bleeding unbearable,” Cameron mutters to herself.
Once I’m free from my seat, I approach her, tentative. She notes my apprehension and shoves her hands in her pockets. It’s not like Cameron to back down or soften, but she does for me. I didn’t see her in the battle and I’d be stupid not to realize her true purpose. She’s on this jet to keep an eye on me, a bucket of water next to a campfire should it rage out of control.