"Do you know what happened to cause the earthquake?" Dax walks over and plops onto the bed cushions.
Is this story time or something? "Well, it started after I realized that the ogre's wife had been brought back from the dead with the spell I cast on the fan." My mind flashes back to just an hour ago. "I panicked and lost control."
"So, that energized the artifacts somehow." Dax taps a finger to his lips. "We're going to have to keep you from high-stressed situations."
I don’t hold back a hollow laugh. I can’t believe him. I’m always in high stress situations.
"Even though I'd love nothing more, I'm not sure if that's feasible." Charlie's hazel eyes are filled with worry. "Everywhere we go, it seems to be constant chaos."
Yeah, he doesn't have to say that again. "Well, for the time being, I figured out a way to calm down and get it under control."
"Okay, the best thing we can do is get some rest." Dax stands and heads to the door. "Let's get up bright and early and try to do damage control. I'm pretty sure Ria won't be coming back tonight."
I want to argue with him, but I'm exhausted. Sleep seems like a great idea right now. I need to recharge and let my body have time to heal.
"We need to make sure all the others are gone." Charlie purses his lips and looks outside.
My eyes follow but find the road in front of the house empty. All of the guards in the front are gone or in hiding.
"Don't worry." Dax opens the door and glances back. "I'll check everything out and sleep downstairs. I'll yell if anything seems funny." He shuts the door behind him.
My legs become weak, and I stumble to the bed before I fall down. "I'm so tired."
Charlie climbs into the bed and holds out his arms to me. "Come on, let's get some rest."
Not wasting another second, I crawl into his arms and rest my head on his chest.
His arms wrap around me, and he kisses my forehead. "Everything is okay right now."
That's easier said than done. Even though it's comforting in his arms, my mind won't turn off. What am I going to do about all of this? How do I fix what I didn't mean to break? The first step is finding the Water Artifact and fixing the realms from all the corruption. But It seems as if each time I take a step forward, I fall back ten steps. After several long minutes, I bite my lip and blow out. "What are we going to do now?"
"Well..." Charlie's tone is low and raspy.
I startle and jump a little.
"What's wrong?" Charlie turns his head, glancing around the room.
"Nothing, you just scared me. I thought you were asleep." I hadn't meant to bother him.
He chuckles and tucks me in closer. "Nope, I think my mind is racing like yours. But we continue our plan."
"Which one?" Our plans have changed so much I’m not sure which one he’s talking about.
"That's fair." He lets out a sigh and tightens his arms around me. "I think we still need to figure out how to live here or at least keep up the pretenses we do. We can blame tonight on an anomaly, and that her threat changed our mind."
Do I still want to live here? It would be nice, but I do have to get my hands on the artifact. "Yeah, either way, you're right. We at least need to pretend."
Silence falls between us again, and I enjoy Charlie running his fingers down my side.
"But, even with pretending, I don't want to spell any more of the water. I can't risk harming anyone else." It kills me to know that I hurt the woman ogre even if it was unintentional.
"Then don't." Charlie's tone is getting quieter, and he yawns. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. We can contribute in other ways."
Yeah, we can find another way. My eyes become heavy, and my body slumps more into the cushions.
The suns shining into the room wakes me. A heavy leg drapes over my waist, and warm air hits my neck with every breath Charlie takes. It's nice to be cocooned in his arms. He's my protective bubble. I snuggle into him and try to enjoy the moment.
"Hey, stop wiggling." Charlie's raspy voice tickles my ear. "You may be asking for more than you're willing to deliver."
My heart picks up at the thought, and I giggle.
"I miss that noise." He kisses my neck and hugs me tight.
He's being sweet, but that comment makes the previous night’s event spring back up in my mind. Wow, I royally screwed up last night. "Yeah, well, that might be the last time you hear it."
His arm tightens and his tone gets low and hard. "Don't say anything like that again. We're going to figure everything out."
He can't know that, but I don't want to fight with him. Things are only going to get worse if I don't get the artifact and fast. Not to mention, what happens if Ria and Tide figure out what I've done.
The door to our room opens, and Dax enters with a large cup in one hand and the other hand at his back. "Finally, you two are up. We need to determine our next steps."
The smell of strong coffee fills the air. "Damn, that smells good. I need to make me a cup."
"Well, you are in luck." He moves the hand from behind him to reveal the cup of coffee he was hiding. "I thought you might need some this morning."
"Ugh, I can't win against that." Charlie lifts up his arm and pouts.
"You'll be fine." I rise to sit upright on
