Page 65 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
“No, I was asking to be polite,” Damon responded.
“He’ll keep watch with you,” I said, clapping my nephew on the back harder than necessary.
Damon’s head whipped toward me. “Why exactly will I be doing that?”
“You’re not injured, that’s why.” I took Meera’s backpack and began to rummage through it, looking for something I could use as a light before muttering, “Is there a candle in here? Something?”
Damon grimaced. “I’ve got bruised ribs from cliff jumping and blisters the size of?—”
“Your ego?” Sadie said under a cough.
Meera pointed to a side pocket. Inside were strangely shaped sticks, and I didn’t know what to do with them. I handed one to her silently, and she bent it in half. A crack sounded before the stick filled with an unnaturally yellow glow. She shook it and gave it back to me as it started to glow a little brighter.
Returning my attention to Damon, I said, “We don’t know what else is lurking out there. Best to have two pairs of eyes. You’re still standing on your own two feet.” With that, I shot a pointed look toward Meera, whose limp had worsened severely over the last hour or so. “You’ll manage.”
“C’mon. You can keep me awake with your whining,” Sadie said with a smirk, patting the ground next to her.
Their bickering followed us into the cave as I led Meera toward the darker end, further from the mouth and whatever might still be listening outside. The space narrowed, the ceiling dipping lower, and the shadows grew thicker, our only source of light providing a sickly color as it illuminated her face. Meera sat on the cold stone, arms wrapped around her knees, eyes vacant and fixed on nothing.
I knelt. There was too much lingering between us. Too many unspoken words.
“Why?” I finally said.
She didn’t move. “Why what, Vareck?” Her voice was quiet, not meek, but lacking emotion. If not for the faint trembling of her injured foot, I’d wonder if she were being obstinate. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case, given her physical symptoms had been worsening over time. We were all exhausted, but this realm seemed to be taking a toll on Meera more so than the rest of us.
I studied her face. She had dirt on her cheek. The river water had dried in her hair, leaving frizzy copper ringlets framing her flushed face. Hazel eyes flicked toward me, tired and guarded.
In an ideal world, I could wait to address it. We didn’t live in the ideal, especially not now. Our reality was bleak. It was literally hell.
“Why did you jump?”
Her jaw tightened. Teeth bit down into her plump bottom lip. “I didn’t want to be eaten.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
She released her bottom lip to purse them together instead. “You’re still mad.”
I think it went without saying I was furious, but I wanted an explanation for her actions, not to belabor my anger. “I’m trying here, Meera.”
She sighed. “I jumped because Sadie did. Because the options were that or being eaten, and I’d rather take my chances with the unknown when the other option is certain death.”
I sighed, taking a seat next to her. “I was trying to tell you to stop. I thought we were on the same page. I’m trying to keep you safe. I don’t compel you; you don’t do anything stupid. Then you went and jumped off a cliff.”
“I’m not a toddler whose hand you need to hold so I don’t walk into the street.”
“Honestly, that’s a great comparison.” I rubbed at my temples to soothe the growing tension that knotted together.
Meera’s brows furrowed and her nostrils flared. “The river caught us, Vareck. What is the big deal?”
Dropping my hands, I rested my forearm against my thigh for support, and I sighed. “Because of Damon. The river only caught you that way because of Damon.”
She blinked, quietly trying to make sense of my response. “I don’t know what that means.”
“Had he not intervened,” I said, my words sharper than I intended, “you’d have hit the water like stones dropped from the castle towers. That cliff was easily three hundred feet. You would have broken every bone in your body on impact. Do you understand that?”
“What? No?—”
“You felt that gust right before you hit the water? That was him. He jumped after you two and redirected your momentum. He’s an air elemental, remember?” I wiggled my fingers in a weak attempt to mimic his power. “Slowed you both enough that you didn’t break when you hit the water.”
