Page 21 of 3 Secrets to Love
It took us another hour, with one stop to catch our breath and stretch our legs, before we reached the top. The view was truly spectacular. The water in the ocean sparkled under the sunlight, and we even saw the silhouettes of some large creatures swimming just below the surface. Looking along the beaches, we spotted those less busy than the others and made a note to visit one of them the next day. We also spied some shops in the city that we wanted to visit during our time on Saog.
We sat on one of the benches at the top of the peak to eat our hotel-packed meal. As soon as we finished, we headed back down the trail. Seeing the sun set over the water would have been a beautiful sight, but hiking down a mountain in the dark seemed too risky.
The trek to the bottom seemed to go faster, though we slowed down at the steepest part where stairs and a railing on one side had been installed. I let my sister use the rail and bounced beside her down the hard dirt-packed steps withwooden ledges. I didn’t see the ledge halfway down the staircase that had rotted away. Without anything to stop my step, my foot kept going until it reached the loose dirt on the side of the mountain. My forward momentum steered me off the stairs and down the hillside. With a stream of loose soil and gravity carrying me downward, I had no chance to stop myself. I kept sliding with my hands flapping and terror clenching at my gut. Then I came to an abrupt halt with a loud crunch and pain radiating up my leg. I fell to the ground and grasped my ankle, tears streaming down my cheeks before I even felt them. Bile pooled in the back of my throat before I dared a glance at the damage.
“Xacalla,” my sister called, though she sounded far away. “Are you okay?”
“No.” I couldn’t tell if I spoke loud enough for her to hear me, the pain worse than when I’d been hit by plazer fire. “But stay there.”
Wiping away the tears, I tried to glance back to see how far I was from the trail. I didn’t need my sister to hurt herself by trying to help me.
As she waved her hands in the air, I spotted Brely and waved back but had no idea how I was going to make it up to her and the rest of the way down the mountain. Not with the way my ankle throbbed without any movement whatsoever.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing, hoping I could find some way to ignore the agony. When I opened them again, I caught movement to my left. Twigs crunched as something came toward me. Brely was still up on the trail, thank goodness, but I worried what else was out there.
And then I saw him. Phalon. He rushed toward me and scooped me into his arms before I had the chance to brace for the movement.
“You’re hurt.” He pulled me tight to his chest and stared at me with knit brows and concern in the soft wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.
“You’re here.” I gasped, the pain subsided for a moment while I processed that he really was holding me.
“Phalon, is that really you?” my sister called.
“Hi, Brely.” He nodded and started up the incline with me in his arms. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Where have you been?”
“Your sister is my concern right now,” he answered her, his tone making sure she didn’t ask anything else.
Without any medical supplies along the trails, Phalon carried me all the way to the first aid hut at the bottom.
“Are you sure you want to go in there?” I asked right before he stepped inside.
“You’re hurt,” he said again, as if I didn’t already feel the burning pain radiating through my foot and up to my knee. “I’m going to make sure you get the attention you need.”
“There’s a finder’s fee out on you, Phalon.” My sister darted in front of him. “If you go in there, someone’s going to take notice.”
He sighed. “I’m sure someone already has, but Xacalla is my first concern.”
Brely chuckled from behind as Phalon stepped into the hut. “You’ve both got it bad. I’ll go sit over here and drink my water while you get her ankle fixed. Thanks, by the way, for finding us.”
He nodded right before the cloth closed behind us.
None of the medical staff made a big deal about Phalon. Either they didn’t know to look out for him or were more concerned about my swollen ankle. I received several hyposprays that seemed to reduce the swelling and made me groggy as those attending to me manipulated my ankle then wrapped it.
I didn’t remember leaving the hut, but when I came to, I was lying on the bed back in the hotel room with a cold compress over my ankle. Brely was watching something on the wall comm from the bed beside me. And Phalon was gone. Again.
Chapter Fourteen
Phalon
“You know what you have to do, right?”
I nodded to Brely as I grabbed the door handle of the hotel room, prepared to leave her and Xacalla to face my fate.
After carrying an anesthetized Xacalla from the medical hut to the hotel she and her sister were staying at, Brely had grilled me about how I felt about her sister and why I was running away from my responsibilities. I hadn’t planned to tell her everything, but she had an intense stare, like their brother, Zander, that could root out any information they wanted. She understood why I had run to protect Xacalla and the others but said I couldn’t hide forever with the truth now revealed.
All the advice she’d given me made sense, even if it was ultimately my decision about what I chose to do. Yet, I had no desire to be a prince. Or a king. I wanted to fly, not govern. So, I headed to the Eureblian Embassy on Saog.
