Page 80 of Dragon Gods

She appreciated the warmth while she could, face turned up to the sky for a moment before she began searching the ground for their trail. It had taken longer than it should have to make it to the cenote the day before, the trail she and Fox had taken through the underground river impossible to track. But she knew if she tried to simply walk straight back to the camp, she’d have just as much of a chance of getting lost once more. So she stuck to their haphazard trail, even as it wove and looped back on itself.

One moment she was tracing the path, careful not to lose their prints and the next someone was calling her name from only a few feet away. She bit back a scream as she stumbled over a root and toppled into the tree next to her, looking around wildly for the culprit.

Fox was there a moment later, standing above her, hand reaching out to help her up. She hesitated a moment, eyes focusing on his face as if it might shift at any moment. The tales always spoke of faeries coming out at night, but there was nothing to say they couldn’t haunt the forest in the day. Fox seemed to read something of her thoughts on her face because his lips twitched and he took a step back.

“It’s me, captor oh my captor, bane of your existence, most horrible one.”

She waved her hand as she pushed herself up. “I got it. I believe you. Please shut up now.”

“Ah,” he said, smile stretching wider, “I missed you, too.”

“What are you doing out here?” She looked around, suddenly realizing she was nowhere near the camp and Fox was very much alone. “Where in the dragons’ names were you heading?”

Fox’s eyes shifted, face going slightly pink—or pinker given the tinge of sunburn ever present on his skin now. Sofia narrowed her eyes, unsure of why he looked bashful at the question.

“I…well yesterday I—” He started and stopped, eyes looking everywhere but at her. “They’re shapeshifters!”

He spit the last words out with such cold venom that Sofia’s own stomach dropped.Oh.

“I know,” she said slowly. She should have told him. She had known that from the moment she’d talked to Paz and the others, but she hadn’t wanted to. It was all too obvious how Fox would respond and she hadn’t been ready to face his vitriol for all things he didn’t know.

“Of course you do.” His voice was flat.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You deserved to know.”

His lips pinched tight at her words. He stepped closer to her and she winced as his stare darkened.

“I found out yesterday, and I might have freaked out a bit. I ran off.”

“You ran the wrong way,” she said, looking up at the sun’s position in the sky. He’d run north instead of south. And here she was thinking he was getting a bit better at tracking in the forest.

She looked back at him and saw that the pink blush had deepened and he was looking at her with an intensity that made her chest tighten.

“No, I didn’t,” he said, voice low and rough. Her body heated and she was suddenly more aware of how close their bodies were. And then something shifted in his shoulders and he moved back. “I thought to warn you before I went back to Suvi. I now realize how ridiculous that was, thinking you weren’t fully aware we were staying with the same type of creatures that initially kidnapped us. Well, after you kidnappedme.”

His voice was cold and the blush faded from his cheeks as if his indignation had cleared away any lingering embarrassment.

“They aren’t the samecreaturesthat kidnapped us. Those wolfshifters were a different tribe. Not all shifters?—”

“Are evil,” he finished, rolling his eyes. “I figured you’d say something like that. I planned to head back to Suvi this morning. I don’t know why…” His voiced faded away and he turned away from her. So much for feeling like she understood him. He was confusing her as much as Lumi had with their words of encouragement.

“Right,” she said, trying to shrug off her confusion. “Well, I’m heading back to the camp to gather some supplies before I go running off into the rainforest. You can join if you want.”

She brushed past him, not waiting for his answer. She didn’t need to. He would follow because, despite his rambling excuses, she knew he was smart enough to know he wouldn’t make it back to Suvi without food or help. And she recognized—even if he wanted to pretend otherwise—he’d run north to save her, instead of returning to Suvi. Something like lightning went through her chest at the thought.

“I’m impressed you found your way here so well,” she said, after an awkward amount of time walking in silence.

“I tried to stick to walking north, and I managed to find pieces of your trail.”

“You’re actually getting good at this. You can teach your scouts a thing or two when you get back.”

“Perhaps,” he said, voice soft. “If I still have a place in the military after getting kidnapped by the enemy.”

“They can’t blame you for that, can they?” she said. She wasn’t feeling guilt exactly, but she knew whose fault all of this was.

“Maybe not, but I imagine they will blame me for saving a rebel’s life more than once and breaking bread with a camp full of unassociated shapeshifters. My father would?—”

He cut himself off. Sofia waited a beat, wondering if he’d continue, but he didn’t.

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