Jennifer eventually grew tired and curled up next to Johnny. It wasn't long before I heard their snoring fill the air. I stared up at the dark sky with a scowl, wanting to blame all my problems on the world around me. If only we didn't have these two annoying—no, I needed to be gentle. Maybe they were scared, and that was why they were reacting this way. Well, Jennifer's bizarre fascination with me was a bit unsettling.
The fire was thankfully working to keep the trees away. The dense treetops rustled as the birds nested in them for the night. They were no doubt picking at the corpse of the creature from earlier, which the vampires had dragged into the forest. Heat was the only weapon we had against the trees, thanks to Dorian and Cam’s observations. Arlonne had also mentioned that the trees were less active around this area, perhaps because it was close to the gate.
The flames snapped in front of me. A smoke plume rose. For a minute, if I just focused on the fire, I almost slipped into a sense of normalcy.
Bryce shifted in his sleep, and I made my way over to him. He was laying his head on a rolled-up bedroll. It was mine, which I’d chosen to sacrifice so he could have something gentle to rest on. We’d lost so many of our supplies in the crash. I was worried about him. I was so used to seeing Bryce in command. Every time he got injured, it was like watching a father figure go down. At least he looked peaceful in his rest.
I reached up to touch my necklace. Could Reshi actually manufacture a set of these for him and Arlonne? It stood to solve a lot of problems. Looking back, I remembered those terrifying moments with Dorian in the beginning stages of the curse. It was a highly unpleasant sensation, especially for soldiers. As a trained Bureau soldier, I was used to being in complete control… and the curse had taken that away. I knew exactly how Bryce felt.
A cough shook me from my thoughts. Bryce pulled himself up with bleary eyes and coughed again. I pressed a hand on his back as he cleared his throat. His canteen was beside him. I handed it over after undoing the lid, and he drank deeply from it.
"Everything is okay for the moment," I told him softly. "We found the others. You just, uh, had a bad spell."
As soon as I spoke those words, Bryce averted his eyes in embarrassment. He scratched the back of his neck and looked around. "Is Cam here?"
"He's fine. Dorian and Sike are here, too. We have some newcomers… but I'll explain," I promised. Bryce, upon seeing that nobody else was conscious, buried his face in his hands.
"I almost let him die," he muttered mournfully. "He was so close to dying. If Dorian hadn't saved him, he would be—"
"Dorian did save him," I said firmly. "Cam knows he didn't follow orders. He’s already apologized." Bryce's feeling of guilt for letting Cam be exposed to such danger was one I could empathize with, but I couldn't let him beat himself up like this just after waking. The imaginary failure was too horrible to contemplate, and there was nothing we could do to change the past.
"It's okay. He knew he was signing up for danger when he came here." I took my hand off Bryce's back, hoping my words comforted him a little.
"Aye, you're right," Bryce muttered and dragged a hand down his face in a weary fashion. The curse always left a bit of a strange sensation after. "I hate that the mission—our first mission—has gone this way. Not your fault, of course."
A silence lapsed between us. It was difficult to figure out my new relationship with Bryce as co-leaders, but I grew brave in our quiet.
"When did it start?" I asked, keeping my voice low.
Bryce sighed heavily. "I've been feeling heartburn lightly for months now. I thought it was actual heartburn at first, given my age, but then the third or fourth time, I realized it was always around Arlonne. She could sense my physical reaction to it." I kept a close watch on Jennifer to make sure she was actually sleeping. Over the roaring fire, there was no way she could hear if we whispered like this. "We came to a silent arrangement of sorts and naturally tried to keep our distance from one another. I guess we couldn’t help ourselves when we saw each other, though. She carried on like we had everything under control, which gave me some confidence. I think she's just amazing. I'm sure nobody is surprised by that."
The warm glow on his face made my heart tug in pain for him. "I remember that happening to me," I said softly, and I didn’t just mean the curse.
Bryce met my gaze. "Lyra, I never knew what it felt like until I experienced it myself. When it was happening to you, I'll be honest, I thought it was too crazy to believe. I couldn’t imagine the full extent of it, or that it might happen to me. I know that's foolish, but the old man inside me wanted to dream." His voice wavered for a moment. "It's bringing a new perspective on things for me."
I smiled at him. "I can try to give you the best advice I have, but Dorian and I have already discussed contacting Reshi to see if she could reverse engineer our necklaces." I held back from adding that he’d once asked such a question from Reshi herself, but likely hadn’t had a chance to pursue it yet, with Callanish starting up.
Bryce gave a tired nod and took one more sip of water. "We'll get there when
