Page 5 of Reign of Light
Has this been the goal all along?
And if so, why?
I honestly don’t know, and I don’t know if we ever will have an answer for why we are all stranded, while the man who cheated the magic walks free. We can speculate and try to figure it out, but nothing will change. It is our ending, and now all we can do is move forward and be grateful that it wasn’t worse.
“If this is what the island wanted, remind me to thank it,” Weston says as he leans forward, closing that last breath of space between us. The soft press of his lips into mine breaks the tension in my body, slowing the onslaught of guilt and fear and worry, or at least distracting me from it for a moment.
I lean into him, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, craving the sturdy and safe feel of his body against mine. Understanding what I need, he wraps his arm around my waist and crushes me against him before angling his head and deepening the kiss. I lose myself in the moment, the steady rhythm of his tongue stroking mine, the tightening of his muscles around me, the feel of his chest grumbling as my fingernails brush his scalp.
Breaking away, breathless, I pull air into my chest ready to lean in for more, when he presses a brusque kiss to the corner of my jaw, then murmurs in my ear.
“Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER TWO
Walking through the tunnels back to the ship is the slowest I’ve traveled since stepping foot onto Dawnlin. We have no reason to hurry. Time is on our side, and neither of us is rushing to break the news to the crew.
Weston weaves his fingers between mine as we silently traipse through the dim tunnel. The casual comfort feels wrong after the cyclone of emotions that we just went through. With each step, my apprehension escalates as the coming conversations play out in my mind, and I watch the faces of my friends fall. The tears. The loss of hope. The anger. Everything I just felt, I know they will too, and the two of us are going to be the ones who have to deliver the news.
The hardest part is that we’ve done this before, except this time is final.
The dust is gone, and over twenty years of effort has been futile.
There is no returning to our world.
After letting myself feel everything, an odd sense of calm washes over me. I know it is fleeting, and the tears I shed moments ago inWeston’s arms will not be the only ones I cry, probably not even the last of the night, but right now, I have enough strength to move forward. Weston held me together while I shattered, and now all I can do is try to pick up the pieces until they start to heal.
Time is the only thing that will heal these wounds, and time is the one thing on Dawnlin we have plenty of.
Waves roll gently onto the beach just outside the portal, and the luminescent glow followed by the calming crash is comforting, knowing we’re almost home. This time when we step out of the portal, it will be different. We don’t have to be on alert. We don’t have to scan the surroundings to make sure no one spots us. We don’t have to bolt back to the gangway. As we cross through the dense magic, it feels like we’re stepping into a different Dawnlin than the one we left not that long ago.
Our boots sink into the sand with each heavy footfall, and the speed of our gait slows ever so slightly, as if we’re trying to avoid the possibility of having to tell anyone what happened for just a little longer. The gangway still juts out onto the reef, and the deck is quiet, with no echo of conversation. There’s no glow from the lanterns, only the reflection of the moonlight off the dark wood, indicating everyone is likely already below, and I let out a sigh of relief as we step onto the jagged rock.
Weston’s arm settles across my shoulders, and I sink into his side as he presses a kiss into my hair. Wrapping my arm around his hips, I look down at my feet, trying to step over the glowing creatures settled into their hidden pools.
“I feel like I could sleep all the way through tomorrow. Maybe I should,” I say, the hint of melancholy in my voice too difficult to hide.
“Sleep as long as you want. You don’t have to come to the meeting. You can stay back on the ship.”
I nudge him sharply with my shoulder. “Nice try. I’m coming.”
He lets out a huff of a half-hearted laugh. “It was worth a shot.”
“I’m not letting you go alone.”
“I won’t go alone.”
His face is stoic when I tilt my head back to look up at him. “You’re going to tell everyone? Right away?”
“I think they’d want to know. Like you said before, they deserve to. It also might be concerning if I just disappear in the middle of the day.”
“We could come up with something if you need more time.”
“I thought about waiting until I ensured it was safe for them to leave the ship, but that requires talking with Mara. So, I don’t think I have much of a choice.”
“Leave the ship? You mean live on the island?”
He nods slowly. “Yes.”
