The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 141: Secrets in the Night

"You can sleep, you know." Calista told her brother, keeping her voice quiet enough so that it wouldn't disturb the others.

"And leave you to deal with all the fun?" He snorted. "Not a chance."

A heavy silence fell over them. It didn't need to be said but this wasn't fun in the slightest. The green dragon passed out on the futon on the floor and the others scattered around the room, they were all clearly shaken by what had happened.

Her brother was sitting in between where Yona and Jae-ha lay while Calista took the window seat, the vantage point giving her a clearer glimpse of the outside.

She bit her lip to keep herself from laughing as she watched her brother ease himself into the spot between the princess and the green dragon, being especially careful not to wake either one of them.

He ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the unruly locks still damp from earlier.

There was no way Hak felt jealous how the princess couldn't bear to leave Jae-ha alone and had made her bed right beside him. Nope, definitely not jealous at all.

However, she hadn't even bothered to dry herself off and she was shivering badly even though Hak had piled on whatever he could find to keep her warm.

The only other blanket that wasn't on the green dragon was covering Yoon at the moment.

Hak had already stripped off his shirt and laid it on top of the sleeping princess. His outer robe was still wet and wouldn't do any good so he didn't have much of a choice.

Calista openly gagged as she saw him shirtless. "Gross."

He made a face at her and she snickered.

"Ugly." She threw at him, shooting him a look of disgust that could only be discerned as aggravating.

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking." He said, waving a hand at her dismissively, not bothered in the slightest. "You don't look any better."

She shrugged at his rebuttal, grinning widely. It faltered when something resurfaced in her head and she quietly cleared her throat, looking away and praying that he didn't notice.

The moonlight shone through the open window, cracked just a smidge to allow the fresh and cool night air to swirl around the room for Jae-ha's sake.

Tucking her knees up to her chest, Calista let her gaze drift over to where her brother had gone silent. Her heart twinged at the scene in front of her.

It was almost painful how Hak reached out to brush the hair away from Yona's face, only to retract his hand at the last second before it could make contact. He hunched over her instead, readjusting his shirt covering her for the tenth time in the last twenty minutes.

It was obvious how much he cared for her.

Calista desperately wanted to tease him for what she and Yona had overheard earlier, knowing full well that the princess didn't believe the indirect declaration of love in the slightest, claiming that since it came from Jae-ha, it didn't count as Hak's feelings.

But now wasn't the time or place to play matchmaker.

She shifted to get more comfortable so that the wooden post of the alcove didn't dig into her back. She was keeping watch outside to keep herself occupied while he looked after their comrades but so far, nothing stirred.

It was as if the whole town was fast asleep. She would've easily mistaken it as peaceful if not for the fiasco that happened a few hours ago.

In eagerly anticipating his arrival, she was the first to hear it.