Page 77 of The Garnet Daughter
Sav unphased, flicks her chin toward the valley below. “There is a problem.”
Chapter
Twenty-Four
The First Son soldier jogs across the valley below toward our location on the ridge. All three of us are tucked behind a group of boulders near the crash site of the second escape pod.
Half of August’s body covers mine, pressing me hard against the warm rock at my front. “He’s out of range,” he whispers with one eye closed and the other peering into the scope of the large, stolen weapon.
Sav glances over the rim, a little satchel I missed earlier gathered near her feet, metal fragments from the pod protruding out in a mess. She did not flee when I ran down the ridge—she started tearing apart pieces of the pod, taking advantage of the distracted First Son soldiers. She notices me staring and uses her boot to tuck it in closer to her.
“I can fold us closer,” I whisper to him over my shoulder.
“Oh, I know you can. But let me get this one. It’s my turn to save us.” He keeps one eye pressed into the lens of the scope, following the path our enemy takes, and grins at my words, sending electricity across my entire body. His lip is still swollen from kissing me so hard, and even in the sobering predicament we are now in, I don’t regret kissing him back.
“He’s heading toward the other pod. I wonder if he has spotted it,” I whisper. “Why was the First Son soldier in there? Did he try to run?”
August huffs to himself. “No, I stuffed him inside when he got close to it and hit eject. One less to worry about.”
“He was dead,” I tell him, unsure if I was able to get that out in my ramblings before.
His eyes flick to me for a moment and then to my mouth. “I’m going to climb down closer.”
“Is that wise?” I ask.
“We are not in the birthlands to be wise, Callia.” He slides across the rock and crouches in a low crawl. “Stay here, both of you, until I return.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Don’t like it behind that barrier.”
The last thing I see is the tug of a smile exposing his dimple pressed so close to the massive First Son gun before he disappears around the boulder.
I slide down the surface to join Sav where she is curled up, holding her knees and scrap metal close to her chest.
Before I can even speak to her, the pop of a weapon discharging bounces across the valley, sending the noise in every direction.
I let out a sigh when I hear August’s quick steps returning, not the careful ones he left on when danger was still present.
“Got ‘em.” He reaches down, extending an open palm for me to take and pulling me from the sandy ground into his solid chest.
“We heard.” My stomach dances with a little flutter as he stares down at me, a shyness breaking out in my system that I am not used to. Now that we are no longer in danger, emotions have evened out and the weight of the line we crossed togetheris very present, and from what I can tell, August would eagerly repeat it.
Sav briskly walks past, making her way back to the pod and slinging the fabric-wrapped metal over her shoulder, completely ignoring us.
“I told her she could take scrap from the pod if she brought me here. Mine landed in some kind of sinking sand.” I swallow hard. “It’s gone, everything. I barely got out, but Sav helped me.”
Regret creases his face. “I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. He did what he had to, pushing me into the pod, and all that matters is that we are here now and alive.
“The spell book?” His hands clench at his sides like he wants to wrap his arms around me in another embrace but is unsure.
“Gone.”
He sits on a boulder, blowing out an exaggerated exhale. “When they breached the cockpit, I took the first of them down and was able to disable communication. The fleet ships have a kill switch for cases like this. Cuts off the connection to home base so it can’t be tracked or used to corrupt the channel for spying.” He gestures hopelessly back to the pod. “We can’t send a distress signal from that or the ship, but at least we aren’t stranded again. Are you strong enough to fold us back? I’m sorry, Calliape. We tried.”
“We aren’t going back yet. Look around. Does this not look like the area the drones were headed toward? I came from a flat portion, but once we climbed up this hill . . . There are so many rock formations around, we have to be close.”
