“Once we get to Aldrion, we’ll need to hide Luthel and Hanon. Perhaps sneak them in through the crack in the eastern wall. I hope they haven’t fixed it yet.” Gabriella rolled up a blanket and stuffed it into her backpack.

Mel shook her head. She wasn’t going back there. Not when she knew answers were waiting for her in the east.

Gabs wasn’t looking at her and continued. “I think it’s best if Austin speaks to his brother and his father when we arrive. That way, we can get ahead of the news reaching them and create a distraction before we talk to the governor. Can you do that?”

Austin nodded, humming in agreement with her. He brought the tent down where Hanon had been sleeping just moments ago. He rolled up the canvas and tucked it into his backpack.

Hanon sat on the log by the still glowing campfire. The sun was high in the sky by now, and Mel knew they needed to leave soon. But she just couldn’t join them. Hanon was staring into the sparks and Luthel held his arm around him to shield him from the world. Mel started pacing the campsite, walking from Austin to Gabriella.

Eventually, she found the courage to speak. “I won’t come with you. I decided last night. I’ll go to Krazaa to find the truth.”

Gabs stopped packing and Austin looked up. Mel met their gazes with forced calm. At first they didn’t say anything, then Gabs broke the silence. “No, we decided together that we would go back to Aldrion now.”

Mel shook her head. “That was before the ritual. Before Hanon and Luthel joined us. Now things have changed. I need to go.”

Gabs walked up to her. “You can’t leave. You can’t just head out there alone. Didn’t you hear Lenera last night? They’re after us. The shadows will find you.”

“Perhaps not. If we make them follow you instead. Make them believe I’ve gone with you to Aldrion. Perhaps you can draw them away from the wastes, make this place the safest place for me to be. If the shadows come to Aldrion with you, then the army can help you fight them.”

Austin put a hand on Mel’s shoulder. “I think Gabriella is right. You can’t go out there alone, even if we lure them to Aldrion, which I’m not even sure we can do. It’s not safe and now that we know the void wants you...” He shook his head. “You promised we would go back to Aldrion.”

Mel swallowed the lump in her throat. Had she really promised them? Maybe she had. She’d given them her word they’d go back and Austin was right about that. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of needing to go to Krazaa. Of needing to know who she was and who the dragons had been. This could be her only chance at finding the truth. Perhaps their only chance at finding something that could kill the void.

“Melissa is right, we need to go to the east,” Luthel said. “I don’t know about your plans, but if you want to find out more about the void. Krazaa is the place it will be. It’s the only place no one has gone for centuries, not even us. If there is something more to be known about this world, it rests behind the walls of the old city.”

Mel met his gaze, and hope surged inside her body. Luthel understood her. He knew what she was talking about. Perhaps he could feel it too.

“I won’t be going alone,” Mel said. “I’ll have Hanon and Luthel with me.”

Austin threw a worried glance at the small huddled form in front of the campfire. One of Hanon’s eyes was still glued shut from bruises, but with his one open eye, he looked up at Mel. “I’ll take you there. Me and my father will help you get to the great city. But I can’t promise you we will be safe there. I can’t promise we will be safe anywhere anymore.”

“If there is a way to change Hanon’s stars, it will be in Krazaa,” Luthel said. “We will go there with or without you, Melissa. But you are free to join us.”

“No,” Gabs said. “You promised we could return now. I need to tell people in the valley to warn them about the war. It’s more dangerous than they think, and Aldrion could really fall this time.”

“I don’t like this.” Austin’s hand slipped away from Mel’s shoulder. “But I guess we need to split up. Me and Gabriella will go to Aldrion to warn people about the increasing number of shadows and make sure the city holds against any attacks. Melissa will go with Hanon and Luthel to Krazaa, to find out any information about the void that we can exploit in the war.” His eyes met hers and there was heat behind them. “But after you find the information, I need you to return. I need you to come to Aldrion.”

His hand slipped into Mel’s and heat flooded her body. Even if she didn’t know if she could go back, she found herself nodding. A silent promise to return to him.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

#

They’d packed up their belongings and were ready to set out toward the east. The only thing remaining was for Mel to say goodbye to her friends. Luthel and Hanon stood behind her, waiting patiently for her to come with them to the east. Austin was staring at her, his eyes dark and his expression hard for her to read. He didn’t look angry, but he didn’t look happy either.

Gabs wrapped her arms around her, pulling Mel tightly into her body. Mel squeezed back, feeling the silky strands of her blond hair tickle her cheek. She smelled of dirt and sweat, probably what they all smelled like after this extended trip into the wastes. A faint smile played on Mel’s lips.

“I’ll miss you,” she said.

Gabs squeezed her even tighter. “Just watch your back and please return to us. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t,” Mel said.

But Gabs shook her head, brushing her nose against Mel’s shoulder, and huffed out a long sigh. She pulled away and Mel saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes. It was hard to look at her when Gabs felt so uncertain.

She glanced away, resting her gaze on Austin. She walked up to him, ready to embrace him in the same way she’d embraced Gabs. But he took her hand and pulled her away from the others. Mel threw a worried glance back at Luthel and Hanon, as if she thought they might leave if she wasn’t fast enough. But they turned away from her, speaking with Gabriella. They seemed to be giving Mel and Austin some privacy, even if it was hard to find any in the wastes.

Austin stopped, his back still turned toward her. His shoulders rose and fell, and Mel could see he was steeling himself for this moment. She didn’t understand why.

“I don’t like this,” he said, turning to her. “What if we never see each other again?”

“We will.”

He gave her a worried expression and brushed a strand of hair back from her face. With a gentle motion, he tucked the strand behind her ear and leaned in toward her. Mel met him halfway and their lips pressed together in a light peck. She took a step toward him and placed her hand on his chest, pressing her lips more firmly against his this time.

He responded by tilting his head and letting her brush her tongue against his. His hand slipped into her hair, tangling with the dark strands. His other hand felt loose on her hip as she leaned into him even further. There was a softness between them that she liked. That she wanted more of. She wanted to be closer to him, but now wasn’t the time.

She pulled back, meeting his dark eyes, and her heart pounded in her chest. It wanted to become free, escape from the confines of her ribcage, and surrender itself to him. But Mel hesitated. She didn’t know if she was ready for more. Not even like this, at the brink of destruction. At what was perhaps the very end of their relationship.

If she didn’t make it back, would she regret not having Austin like she knew she wanted to? Would she regret not letting her heart become his fully? She shook her head, and a smile played on her lips. Austin tilted his head, looking a bit confused, but kept playing with her hair.

A somber expression fell over him, and he cupped her cheek. Austin licked his lips and dragged in a deep breath, as if preparing for something difficult. Mel’s eyes grew wide and her breath hitched.

“I love you, Melissa,” he said.

The words hung in the air around them, taking on more meaning as the moment stretched. Mel didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t say it back. She’d just thought about those words herself and the fact that even now she wasn't ready to say them. But he’d just uttered them, like it wasn't that big of a deal.

“Don’t say that,” Mel said, flinching away from him.

Austin’s hand fell limp to his sides, and his expression fell. She saw genuine hurt in his eyes and she had to look away. She couldn’t meet his gaze, not like this when they held all that expectation inside of them. She didn’t want the pressure. She’d never had and now even what was between them had become pressing.

“Why?” Austin said. “It’s true.”

Mel shook her head. “You don’t know me enough to say that.”

“It’s how I feel, even if you don’t feel the same.”

Mel’s hands flew up between them, and she took another step back. “Don’t. Don’t pretend to know what I feel.”

“I didn’t.” Austin huffed out an exasperated breath. “I just wanted to tell you how I feel. Especially if this is the last time I’ll see you. I wanted you to know. But I didn’t expect you to say it back or to even feel the same.”

“You don’t get it,” Mel said. “Because you’ve said it, it adds pressure on me to feel the same. To say the same thing to you. And I just can’t. I don’t want to.”

“Fine. Then I take it back.”

Mel’s brows knitted together, and she finally felt angry enough to look at him again. Austin’s eyes were narrowed, frustration radiating from him. He looked just like she felt, and it fueled her fire even more. “You can’t just take it back and pretend it never happened. The pressure is here now.”

“Then I take it back and pretend it happened,” he said. “I’m not going to ignore the way I feel about you or feel bad about telling you. That’s not what’s happening. But I respect that you don’t feel the same and that me saying those words adds pressure to you. So, I take it back. There’s no more pressure.”

Mel took another step back from him and Austin let her. He stood with his arms folded across his chest and made no motion to follow her. Mel turned around and left him there, walking up to Luthel and Hanon, a scowl still on her face.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Luthel raised an eyebrow at her, but brought up his backpack and made to leave. Hanon followed quietly behind them as they made their first steps toward the mountains in the east.