Page 50 of Cozy Prisons
To prove that she wasn’t that fatigued, she forced her body to march ahead of him. It didn’t take long before fatigue wasn’t an issue any longer.
“Nataly?”
Daxus pressed himself close to her trembling body. She’d been fine a moment ago, but why was her anxiety suddenly roaring to life? She tried to take a step, but fear made her move back instead of forward.
“I can’t,” she whispered, her entire body starting to shake. Her already tired legs couldn’t take it, and they turned to rubber. She started to collapse.
Daxus was quick to scoop her up and cradle her against his chest, purring.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, blinking hard against the tears burning the backs of her eyes. “But I can’t go that way.”
Without further comment, Daxus turned and walked back to where the paths forked. He paused and looked down at her.
“I feel better here,” she said.
“This is good,” Daxus stated.
“It’s good that I’m having anxiety meltdowns?" she asked.
“It’s good that we’re finding your limits,” he explained. “How can we expect to improve anything if we don’t know where the boundaries are?”
“Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she agreed. She’d forgotten they weretesting her limitsinstead of going for a fun hike. “I still don’t like it.”
“No one likes overcoming an unpleasant challenge,” he countered, slowly setting her back on her feet.
She chuckled. “Good point. I guess we are walking back the way we came.”
“I thought we could rest here for a moment, then try something,” he said.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
“A blind study,” he said. “You close your eyes, I pick a path, and see what kind of reaction you have.”
She shook her head. “You think you’re about to prove something, but you’re going to be disappointed.”
He purred. “We’ll see.”
Chapter 17
Daxus
Nataly was perplexing!
Even after he tucked her face against his chest so she couldn’t tell what direction she was going by the light hitting her eyelids, she consistently reacted badly to any path that led back to the village. The path to the field was the only direction she didn’t struggle with.
Thankfully, carrying her seemed to make the anxiety manageable, but it was still a problem.
He’d been confident that this would be a breakthrough answer, but now he had to admit he was stumped.
Stopping in a small clearing, he sat down and settled her in his lap. “I think we should take a break.”
Nataly sat back and tried to get off his lap. “Are you tired? I’m sorry. I’m probably heavy and you’ve been carrying me around for a while.”
Sounding a soothing rumble, Daxus used his arms to cage her. “I’m not tired. Your weight is nothing compared to a box full of search bots.”
She laughed. “Aww, that’s so sweet. I’m lighter than a bunch of heavy tech.”
