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I held it to the light, my breath catching at the countless colors that glittered within it.
Even the dirt clinging to its edges from months spent buried did not detract from its beauty. And how could Sun’s beautiful smile be just as radiant? So much so that I moved to capture it with my lips.
Until a twig snapped, and I stiffened, turning to greet Hadi.
Sun snatched the stone away as soon as I said his name, and we all stood at a standstill, waiting for someone to make the first move.
Chapter 15
Sun
Acrunching sound like crushed bones alerted me to Hadi’s approach.
I snatched the stone from Bracken’s hand and tucked it into my pants.
“Where is it?” Hadi demanded, the moment he was with us.
“I have it,” Sun said. “There’s no need for you to examine it.”
Bracken and Clem exchanged a look, knowing full well that moments ago I had had no problem with Bracken holding the stone.
No matter how we had come together out there, I still couldn’t just hand him the stone. We were still on opposite sides of this war, despite the blurred lines.
Whatever pleasure he had gained from his revenge over Kovit vanished as he looked into my eyes. His jaw set and brows lowered into a frown.
“I need to see it. I need to know it is the right one. I have the matching sunstone after all.”
“Not anymore,” I reminded him.
There was a prolonged silence. Notably, Hadi did not argue with the correction.
“Insolent,” he hissed, clenching his fists. “You save me and then deny me. All I want is to look upon it, to know that it is real.”
Finally, with a sigh, I held up the stone for Hadi to see.
“Happy?” I asked, shoving it back into my pocket.
Hadi nodded, his expression still guarded, but if I wasn’t mistaken, he looked pleased.
“To Tsuki’s temple,” he said in response.
He gestured for me to lead the way. After a moment, I began to walk. The rest of us fell into step behind him.
A silence fell over our group again as we moved north toward the mountains.
Without saying a word, I knew we were all of the same idea that avoiding detection was of the utmost importance especially now.
We walked and kept walking, drawing nearer to the base of the mountain range, hidden only by sparse trees.
We needed to move fast and far. I couldn’t shake the feeling that danger was still upon us, but as the adrenaline faded, exhaustion took me instead.
I tried to push on, but as the sun began to set, I sagged against a tree, and took in my comrades. Each of them was as dirty, battered and bruised as I felt.
Despite myself, I started laughing.
“We made it,” I said, shaking my head. “We are covered in dirt and blood, but we are all still alive.”
“You sound surprised,” Kiar said, arching a brow and I laughed.
