“What?” The question slipped out before Jamie could stop it. He bit his tongue, angry that he’d fallen for Jason’s carefully baited hook.
“Don’t you know?” Jason asked innocently. “We have a week’s break until the Fifth Final. Allyra and I will be leaving to do some training.”
The way Jason caressed the last word suggested he was expecting to do things other than training. Jamie clenched his jaw. He and Allyra might no longer be a couple, but it didn’t mean that he liked the idea of her with any other man. The idea of her with Jason made him feel more than a little ill.
“Allyra is coming home with me as soon as the medical team clears her,” Jamie snapped out.
“The medical team has already cleared her, and we’ll be leaving at first light tomorrow morning.”
“You do realize that you can’t move her without her consent, right?” Jamie shot back, making sure to slather on a thick layer of sarcasm.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to suggest, but Allyra has given her consent.” Jason shrugged carelessly as he moved toward the door. Jamie felt a flash of childish glee at the sight of Jason favoring his left leg. “Not that it matters whether you believe me or not.”
* * *
Jamie sat with Allyra for an hour, but she made no sign of waking up. Her moon-kissed skin was pale, but her breathing was even and steady. He couldn’t help but be reminded of the last time he’d spent at her bedside. When she’d been trapped in the Between, including that awful moment when the Revenant had plunged its sword into her, spilling her blood onto the starched white sheets.
That was then, and this was now. Allyra wasn’t trapped in the Between. She was merely sleeping. There would be no deadly wounds, no shocking surprises. It was as close to peaceful as their lives got these days.
The thought of it made Jamie feel terribly weary, and he wished desperately for the simpler times before Allyra’s sojourn into the Between. He couldn’t help but wonder what they would’ve been doing now if none of it had happened. Probably living their normal, slightly boring, and, to his mind, infinitely preferable lives.
Jamie sighed and got to his feet. Whatever Mike had given Allyra was doing a fine job, and she was still sleeping peacefully, wearing a small, wry smile. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and then made his way out the room.
He strode purposefully down the corridor, determined to find Mike and convince him not to release Allyra into Jason’s doubtful care.
Chapter 34 – Allyra
“Allyra…”
The voice whispering her name was familiar, and it brought a smile to her lips. She followed the sound of it, languidly drifting into awareness. Allyra opened her eyes slowly, reluctant to leave the warm embrace of sleep. Jason was watching her, his lips curved into a bemused smile, and in that magical place halfway between sleep and awareness, a small voice whispered in her mind: he was achingly, painfully handsome. An unexpected flash of longing rushed through her and jolted her into crystal-sharp consciousness.
Utterly unbalanced by the strange emotion, Allyra forced it aside and snapped at Jason, “What are you smiling at?”
Her sullen response only made his smile stretch even more widely across his elegant features. “You,” he replied fondly. “So cute, sleeping there drooling, with your hair like a lovely rat’s nest.”
Allyra resisted brushing her hand across her mouth to check for the aforementioned drool. Instead, she rolled her eyes at him.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“About halfway there,” he replied, turning away from her and dropping a pair of dark sunglasses over his eyes.
“That’s not an answer,” she grumbled. “I have no idea where there is supposed to be.”
Jason ignored her, instead opening the car door for her and handing her a pair of sunglasses and green, military-style jacket.
She slipped out the car and shivered involuntarily as the cold winter air hit her. It was a typical Highveld winter day with the sun bright in a cloudless sky, but with June fast approaching, the temperature had dropped significantly. Allyra wrapped the jacket around her. It was a few sizes too big and smelled vaguely of fresh laundry soap and the lingering scent of Jason—the fresh bite of an ocean wind carrying the sharp scent of cedar smoke. He was in every way a contradiction.
“I’ll order us something to eat,” Jason called over his shoulder. “Any requests?”
Allyra shrugged and shook her head, making her way toward the bathrooms.
Her reflection stared back at her through the greasy mirror. The bathroom was lit by a single lightbulb hanging by an electrical wire to the ceiling. It cast a sickly greenish hue over her face, highlighting sunken cheeks and eyes—a result of two weeks spent fighting the freezing Antarctic weather. With quick, careless movements, she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail and then tried for a smile that came out more like a grimace.
Walking out of the bathroom, she saw Jason still waiting in line at the counter. They might’ve been in a dingy roadside diner in the middle of nowhere, but it seemed to be a particularly popular dingy diner. Still exhausted, Allyra settled into a booth and glanced up at the television tuned to the news. No access to technology for six months and yet not much seemed to have changed in the world. Wars, a failing economy, and inept politicians. She started to zone out until something caught her eye. Ice creeped through her veins, and her heart pounded an erratic rhythm in her chest. Allyra struggled to catch her breath.
“Allyra?”
Jason’s voice broke through her consciousness, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the television. Following her line of sight, Jason looked up, and with the barest flick of
