Serian was for sure lighter than he expected, but after an hour, even a light weight felt heavy. Her arms were wrapped loosely around his neck, her head resting against his shoulder. Her breathing was a soft, steady rhythm against his ear.
’This is so weird,’ he thought. He tried to focus on the path, on the sounds of the forest, on anything but the feeling of her being so close. It didn’t work. His mind kept coming back to it.
He could feel the warmth of her body through his shirt. He could smell that weird, clean scent of rain and leaves. It was distracting. It made it hard to think straight.
’Just walk, you idiot,’ he told himself. ’Get to a safe spot. That’s the mission.’
He finally saw it as the sun started to get low in the sky. A shallow cave, more like a deep overhang in a rocky cliff face. It wasn’t much, but it was defensible and dry.
"We’ll stop here," he said, his voice a little rough.
He walked into the cave and carefully lowered her to the ground, his movements surprisingly gentle. She let go of his neck, her hands brushing against his skin for a second. His stomach did a weird flip.
He backed away quick and started gathering dry wood for a fire, not looking at her.
The god chat came to life.
[Aphrodite, Goddess of Beauty & Passion] Oh, look at them! The wounded warrior carrying the beautiful princess to his hidden lair! It’s so romantic! My heart is all aflutter! ❤️🔥
[Baron Von Cynic] He looks like a pack mule, and she looks like dead weight. Romance is clearly dead if this is what passes for it.
[Auraelia, Goddess of Resilient Sparks] He was so gentle with her! See? He does care! He’s learning! This is so good for him! ✨💖
He ignored them and got a small fire going. The light pushed back the shadows and made the small cave feel a little less like a tomb. Serian was leaning against the rock wall, her eyes closed, her face pale.
He sat down on the other side of the fire and pulled out the pouch of endless trail mix. He ate a handful without really tasting it. The silence stretched between them, broken only by the crackle of the flames.
He had to say something. The quiet felt too loud.
"You know," he started, his voice a bit awkward. "It’s kind of funny."
Her eyes opened. She looked at him, her expression tired and confused. "What’s funny, Nox?"
He gestured between the two of them. "Us. We’re always hurt. We get beat up, heal a little, then get beat up again." He shook his head, a small, humorless smile on his face. "We never get to one hundred percent. It’s like we’re in a race to see which one of us falls apart first."
She stared at him for a long moment. He thought maybe she was mad at him for joking about it. Then, a small sound escaped her. It was a soft, musical note that he’d never heard from her before.
It started as a quiet giggle, then grew into a real laugh. He was so surprised he just stared at her.
"You are right," she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. The laugh had made her wince from the pain in her ribs, but she was still smiling. "We are a party of bruises and bad tempers." Her smile was real, it lit up her whole face, and it made his heart rise again.
He actually smiled back, a real, small smile that felt strange on his own face. "Yeah. We are."
The air between them felt different now. Lighter.
The small laugh they had shared the night before had changed something. The air in the cave felt better when Nox woke up. He watched the steady rise and fall of her shoulders as she slept, then quietly got up to check the perimeter of their small shelter. Nothing. The forest was quiet.
He came back and sat by the fire, pulling out the first-aid kit he’d bought. Serian stirred when he moved, her eyes opening slowly.
"Good morning, Nox," she replied, her voice still thick with sleep. She pushed herself into a sitting position, her gaze immediately going to her swollen, bruised ankle.
He didn’t say anything, just moved over and knelt beside her. "Let me see."
She hesitated for a second, then shifted, allowing him access. He carefully unwrapped the makeshift splint he’d made. The skin around her ankle was a mess of purple and blue, and the swelling hadn’t gone down.
His touch was surprisingly light as he examined it. He wasn’t a doctor, but it was easy to see it was bad.
’She’s not walking on this for a while,’ he thought.
He thought about the girls, about Kendra, Yeda, and Vasa. When he was with them, he felt like he was always on guard, always the one in charge. He had to be the leader, the one with the answers, the one who pushed them to be stronger. It was a role he’d taken on because he had to, but it was exhausting. It felt like a job.
With Serian, it was different. She wasn’t looking to him to be her boss. She was a high-level princess who got into a bad spot. They were just two people, stuck in a mess, trying to survive. It was simpler. He didn’t have to pretend to be anything. And that felt... natural. More real than anything he’d felt with the others.
He took a roll of clean bandages from the kit and began to wrap her ankle again, his movements careful.
"You are very focused when you work," she observed, her voice quiet.
He just grunted, not looking up. "Someone has to be." He finished wrapping the ankle, making it snug and secure. "It’s still broken. We need to find a better place to hole up for a few days."
He stood and walked to the mouth of the cave, looking out into the dense woods. "And I need to get stronger. Those spiders were a good start, but they won’t be the last thing we run into."
He looked back at her. She was watching him with those steady, unnervingly perceptive eyes. He still didn’t know how to deal with that look.
He turned away. "I’m carrying you again. Let’s go."