Page 9 of Rising Out of the Darkness
One of the guards peered around the corner, and my heart began to pound inside of my chest.
“You,” He scowled and took another step towards me until he was hovering right next to me. “Why are you behind the temple? You should be waiting out front with everyone else.”
It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. “Sir, I’m waiting for my friend. As soon as he arrives, I promise we will make our way back to the front entrance.”
His eyes narrowed into slits. Mine wandered down to the metal chest plate of his armor, where the kingdom’s crest was etched.
Five twisting knots, tangled into each other, represented the gods trees and the strength within connections with one another. My gaze lingered on the single, soft feather floating above it.
After the Light Phoenix had sacrificed herself to bring peace to the entire realm of Ehora, our lands had become a kingdom under the Stallard rule. They’d added the feather to the crest as a tribute for all that she had given.
“Fine.” the guard huffed. “If we don’t see you out front soon, we’ll come back and make sure you do.”
He turned and stormed off. Once alone, I let out a deep breath. My gaze roamed over the row of small wooden cabins in front of me. Still no Will.
Worry overtook my movements, and in no time, I found myself walking around the corner of the temple in search of him. After everything I’d gone through today, I wasn’t surprised to feel the dull ache that began to form in my head. Massaging the sides of my temples, I let my eyelids fall closed for a moment. Just enough time to run right into the wall of a man in front of me.
“Gods, Lena!” Will stepped back into my view, pouting like a child as he rubbed his chest. “You think you could run into me a little harder next time?”
Even though my heart fluttered at the mere proximity of him, I punched him in the shoulder. He stumbled back dramatically, pretending that I had wounded him.
“Where have you been?” I grumbled as I pushed past him.
“There was something that I had to finish.” He tugged me into his side. “Always over-retaliating,” he teased, then proceeded to rub his knuckles back and forth over the top of my head.
“Hells!” I gasped, shoving my way out of his grip. “Bri is going to get so mad at you for messing up her work. You better watch yourself, Wilton Stewart,” my pointer finger sharply stabbed into his chest. “—before I use said skill in the training ring tomorrow.”
I shot him a vulgar gesture with my finger. His eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Such a wild thing you are, Lena.” He leaned in closer to my face, forcing me to lock onto his bright blue eyes, and whispered. “There’s nothing I enjoy more than watching your little attempts at retaliation in the ring.”
A huff of frustration flew out of me as I stormed ahead before he could see the heat that was blossoming on my cheeks.
Not quite ready to make my way to the front of the temple, I turned and walked towards the back side of the seamstress’s cabin. Will followed, chuckling.
Pausing, I slumped against the log wall. My palm ran over my ruffled hair as I tried to smooth it back to its place, at the same time trying to cool the heat that I could still feel in my cheeks.
“You still worried about today?” He paused, his words softer than before. I nodded.
Will’s movement caught my attention, and I turned to see he had pulled out a little burlap package from his pocket. “Well, maybe this will help alleviate some of that.” He smiled sweetly, lifting my hand to place the package inside of it.
“For me?” I teased, fluttering my lashes as I pretended to swoon like all the other girls in town did in proximity to Will.
It was no secret he held the affection of several of their hearts and had acted upon those affections on more than one occasion. Honestly, I knew way more than I wanted to know about Will’s social life, which was difficult, since over the past few years I’d started to develop an attraction to him myself.
Unfortunately, that attraction had always been one-sided.
“Smartass. Of course it’s for you, Lena.” His lips curled up as he shook his head.
“I just…I mean…we’ve never given each other gifts before.” Tossing my shoulders up in a shrug, I feigned indifference. Buried behind that mask however, my thoughts were a swirling tornado of curiosity and anxiousness. “Now I feel horrible that I didn’t make anything for you.”
“Lena.” His voice lowered, wrapping around me like a breeze. “Stop overthinking and just open it.” He tapped the center of my forehead, then feathered his finger down the side of my cheek until he pulled it back. The stubborn organ inside my chest began to beat erratically.
I carefully pulled apart the rough fabric. My eyes landed on what was enclosed, and I swore my heart stopped beating altogether.
Will had always been especially skilled at working with leather and metals, which he had been practicing as a trade until we received our dynamis on our Ascension day.
Inside the package was a brand-new leather sheath for my dagger. My other one had broken while we were sparring a couple weeks ago, which had forced me to use a torn piece of fabric to secure it to my thigh in the meantime.
“This is too much—this is new leather.” My hands trembled. “It’s beautiful, but I can’t accept this. You should sell it. I knowit’s been difficult lately, and you need the coin more than I need a new sheath.”
