*Daphne*
Even though we were still headed into the heart of the dark forest, watching the trees whoosh by from the comfort of a car was a lot better than trudging through them.
“We should reach Hestia’s lair by nightfall,” Rion told us from the passenger seat. I tried to et his eye in the rearview mirror, but he didn’t return my gaze. His expression was stoic, but not completely emotionless. Sothing bothered him, but I was unsure what.
I looked out the window at the falling rain to cool off the burn that still bubbled between us from our last conversation, which had left gutted. He wanted to just forget about him, after all we had been through. I didn’t want to forget.
The sadness reached a low point inside of , but I fought to keep it from the surface so I could stay focused. This was about more than just . He needed my help. Eva needed my help. And I was committed to doing the right thing for both of them.
Rain streaked the windows as the car tumbled through the old road made of hard-packed dirt. I was just glad to be off my feet for the remainder of my journey. I supposed I had Katheryn to thank for that.
She sat in the driver’s seat, and I watched her eyes in the rearview mirror as she remained focused on the road. She had rescued from the cages, and even if she had only been rescuing with the intent of receiving a monetary reward, I was grateful.
That rescue gave a new chance to help Rion get Eva back, and I knew that had been my destiny from the start. My mories pulsed with intermittent visions from his dreams. Even when I closed my eyes, I could still see the visions of his past flooding in.
The visions gave a deeper understanding of the motivation behind it. I knew deep down that he was right. I had co to accept that he wanted what he thought was best for us, to go our separate ways. I would never forget him, but for the ti being, I was committed to helping him find Eva.
I glanced at Rion in the passenger-side rearview mirror and held my gaze, but once again, he didn’t return mine. His silvery gray eyes remained glued to the winding road, glazed over as if in deep thought.
It seed the closer we got, the more distant and guarded he beca. He was focused on what lay at the end of the line. I wondered what was happening inside of his head. His eyes were narrowed despite the overcast skies. He seed so focused.
I hoped that his level of concentration ant that things would go smoothly once we reached our destination. I worried that there would be a problem when it ca ti for the exchange, but Katheryn seed like she was shrewd and level-headed, and that relieved for the ti being. I sighed and watched the forest pass by.
Rion made good on his prediction that we would reach Hestia’s lair at nightfall.
It was dark when we broke through a clearing of trees. In the middle of the clearing stood a large house surrounded by a hedge of dead trees and a front lawn that stretched out toward us ominously.
It was clearly an ancient house and even from our far-off vantage point, we could tell it was abandoned. There were no lights on. So of the windows were broken, the paint was peeling off, and the front door hung on its top hinge. If I hadn’t known that it had belonged to an evil witch, I may have felt a little bad for the previous owner.
Katheryn stopped the car, and we waited for a few monts in silence. My heart pounded. The operation could go wrong. They could realize Katheryn was a decoy. The witches could overpower us. But I tried to calm down and reminded myself that Rion knew what he was doing.
“Well?” Katheryn said, expectedly.
“They’re not here yet. Let’s take a look,” Rion said.
He opened his door and we got out of the car.
The brisk, cool breeze was a pleasant greeting compared to the stuffy car we had ridden in all day. I soaked it all in, thankful for the fresh air.
I turned to Rion, but he had walked ahead of us toward the large estate. I paused and looked at Katheryn.
“I’ll stay back and watch the car,” she said.
I walked with Rion toward the estate and he stood in front of it.
Rion hesitated at the old black gates with ivy twirling through the wrought iron. He peeked through the gaps and looked out beyond the front lawn that expanded toward the pillared veranda circling the house’s first-floor exterior.
There was an old iron padlock with a chain interspersed between the gate’s rods. He grabbed it and tugged and it fell easily out of its place. The gate groaned as it slowly opened.
He turned toward but didn’t look in the eye. The moon shone on us both. He stood there in silence, looking past . I wanted to take his hand and reassure him that I would be there.
But I didn’t say anything. His eyes glazed over, and I didn’t want to break his concentration. I gently put my hand on his shoulder and his features softened. He broke out of his stare and smiled warmly at .
“Let’s go back,” he said.
We walked back to the car, where Katheryn sat in the passenger seat.
Rion ignored her as he made it back to the car.
“We’ll make camp a bit away from here. We’re a little early. And by early, I an by less than twenty-four hours,” he said, then he turned around to point to a small cluster of trees just outside the estate’s yard. “Take us to that little alcove right there and we can rest.”
“Sure,” Katheryn said, and by the sound of it, she was ready to collapse into a nice, soft bed.
As for , I was too wired. I couldn’t shake the anxiety of all of this going wrong. We only had one shot to trade Eva and rescue Katheryn.
I looked at Rion, but he already climbed into the passenger seat after Katheryn moved over to the driver side. I hopped in and we drove over the bumpy dirt road over to the cluster of trees. We found a small clearing in the middle of the them.
Katheryn moved in just enough to obscure the car inside the circle of trees and parked. Stepping out, I realized that it wasn’t as quiet as it had been when we were out in the open. The faint sound of nocturnal birds and bats chittering remained.
“The trees should keep us hidden for the most part. Let’s try to get so sleep. We’ve got a big day tomorrow,” he said.
“I’ll make a fire,” I said.
“That’ll bring attention to us that we definitely don’t want,” Rion said.
Katheryn went into the back of the car and brought out what looked like glow sticks. She tossed so to and a couple to Rion.
“Shake them and they’ll heat up,” she said.
After I grabbed my glowstick, I caught the bundled-up sleeping bag she tossed . Rion set off away from the car, into the clearing within the enclosure of trees, and I followed. Katheyrn wandered away from us toward the other side, where she found a spot and unpacked.
I turned to Rion.
“How are you feeling about seeing Eva again?” I asked.
He kept his attention on undoing the stuck zipper on his sleeping bag.
“I’m excited but I’m nervous,” he admitted. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen her. I wonder how much she’s changed.”
I put my hand on his. He stopped fiddling with the zipper and t my eyes.
“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see you.”
He smiled at and tried the zipper again. It easily gave way.
He dove into his sleeping bag next to mine and we lay down facing each other. The forest sounds seed louder on the ground, which comforted . The glow stick was surprisingly warm, and I relished Rion’s company and the cozy warmth despite the stressful task we had ahead of us.
I reached for his hand and held it in mine, stroking his finger with my thumb. “When we went up to the gate, why did you hesitate?”
He frowned, as though searching his mind for the answer. “I had so strange mories about this place resurface when I looked at the lair.”
“mories? Which ones?”
“They were mories from my childhood. It was before Eva and I were separated.”
***
*Rion*
I felt conflicted about the horrible stories I’d heard about my mother and the mories I had of her caring for when I was really young. Her reputation as a ruthless, powerful witch spread across the land, but I always rembered her loving and taking care of .
“What do you rember?” Daphne asked, pulling out of my thoughts and back to the reality we shared.
I groaned and closed my eyes. It was a vague mory, mostly clouded by the passage of ti. “I rember walking through a long hallway. It looked like an old castle with marble floors and silver knight statues on either side. It happened so long ago.”
Daphne said nothing. She was listening to . It felt good to have soone really listen.
“I used to think the hard tis I went through had to do with all the evil my mother caused.”
She looked at . Her eyes were kind and compassionate. “Parents make mistakes, but it doesn’t have to define their children’s lives.”
She leaned in to kiss , and the feeling enveloped , her lips like electricity and mine the frayed edges of a live wire. It felt so wrong to want so much more from her, and not just in a physical way.
“Why’d you do that?” I asked.
Her lips spread into a smile, but her eyes were sad. A surge of guilt coursed through .
“We might not get another chance.”
I kissed her back. That tender mont was rare and precious, a gift that would no longer be mine to enjoy within a day or two.
We wrapped our arms around each other as if not doing so would cause us to fly away in opposite directions. Our embrace tightened but our breaths slowed as we found comfort in each other and forgot about the mission.
Our kisses gradually stopped as we fell asleep in each other’s arms.
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