Page 82 of Reign of Light
We made it.
The thought feels surreal, but also expected. After everything we fought through, all the doubt, the hope, the despair, the betrayal, the acceptance of our stolen future, it feels like this moment is a dream, and that I’ll open my eyes and be back in the captain’s quarters, ready to search for the dust on another day.
But it’s real. The cold confirms it.
“Do you want my cloak?” Weston murmurs, and I shake my head.
“No, I’ll be fine.” I clench my jaw as it starts to chatter. “I guess it’s just been a while. I’m not used to the cold anymore.”
My arms fall to my sides as he steps back, bursting our bubble and shattering my grip on hoping for more time with only the two of us. He reaches up and grabs my hood, pulling it over my head, before pulling the cloak tight around me and deftly clasping the front all the way to my waist.
“We’ll be inside soon.” His eyes stay focused on his task.
“We don’t have to hurry.” I let out a reluctant breath. “I don’t want this to be over yet.”
His eyes meet mine, and he smiles softly. “You’re nervous.”
“What was your first clue?” I say sarcastically.
He brushes off my jab, and instead intently focuses on my face.
“This right here.” His thumb hooks my lower lip, pulling it out from where it is clenched between my teeth. “Then this.” He runs the pad of his finger between my eyes and across one eyebrow, forcing me to release the tension I’m holding there. “And you keep shifting your weight back and forth.”
I tilt my head, being the one to assess him now. “Do you really notice all that about me?”
“I notice everything about you.” His eyes darken as he leans forward and gives me a soft kiss. “But you don’t have to be nervous. Nothing is over. It’s just…going to be different.”
I huff a laugh. “It will be my turn to say I’m always right when you get a nice glimpse of what my life is like here.”
“And we’ll change it. You’ll change it. I have no doubt.”
My shoulders sag slightly, and my lip juts out in a small pout. “Can we at least take the long way?”
He smirks, then nods. “Yes, we can take the long way.”
Looking to the side, he takes in our surroundings, a look of understanding adjusting his features. I hadn’t considered that we’d be backin the same alleyway that started this entire journey, the same one he was in when he came to Dawnlin. Where Dane hid in the shadows, waiting to brutally attack him from behind, and where I stood as Dane looked around for anyone that might try to cheat the magic the same way he did.
“That’s different.” I follow his gaze to the dirty and still fountain beside us.
“What do you mean? It looks the same.”
He shakes his head. “It wasn’t like this when I left. It was…clean…and beautiful. The water flowed and trickled. It was inspiring. This is…disheartening.”
I look at it, taking in all the places I had rubbed the dirt away only to find that it has already been replaced with a new layer of grime. “This is how it looked when I left. It hasn’t changed at all.”
“Interesting.” He steps away and walks around it, taking in the fountain from top to bottom.
“It was one thing I wondered when I found it. I wondered if the magic in Dawnlin was gone, because the fountain didn’t look the way it did in the story.”
“But it wasn’t. You still got through.”
“Yeah, it still called the Guardian.”
We stand in silence, both of us looking at the fountain that started it all and brought us to the land that deemed us unworthy of helping who we loved back home. It’s only a few moments when I hear myself speak, my thoughts too important to hold them in.
“I wonder what happens if someone calls him now? He’s somewhere without the dust. What would happen then?”
“We may never know.”
