Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Ch. 100 - Darius - So The War Begins

Four hours have already passed. Four marbles already black, and the fifth not yet completely gone. I can't see the marbles in Aracely's lap from where I sit behind her, so I've been relying on the others to say when another hour has passed.

It's felt like four more have passed since Winston announced the fourth was dark. The minutes take twice as long and it's setting me on edge. Everyone is. We've been sitting in silence about it, staring at Fauna and waiting for her eyes to open.

Aracely sat down after Fauna passed out, and then she too was unresponsive. Mak said her eyes have turned all white and she hasn't blinked since. I've been monitoring both of their breathing, noting when one's would catch or slow or quicken slightly. Aracely's fingers will twitch at her side every now and then, but that's about as much of a reaction as we've gotten from her.

The Ginerva have been dizzy and paler in the last two hours or so. To keep them from moving and keep myself focused on something else, the voices of wind have been whispering in my ears and keeping them upright. None of us can move. Not if Fauna is to come back.

"Any minute now," Willa announces.

Those who can see the marbles look to them, yet they still say nothing. They don't even give any physical tells to confirm her claim. They've gotten better at hiding their reactions. That, or I'm too hyper-focused on Fauna that I can't see and feel what I usually can.

Any minute starts to feel like another hour. I do another sweep of the forest, searching for the creatures that used to prey on other forest inhabitants or someone who would very much like to take advantage of our current situation. Willa assured me that she warded a perimeter of thirty feet around the border of the clearing, but if Xaxias could get a device that we couldn't stop into the castle, then I'm not taking any chances. Especially with Fauna unconscious and the Ginerva weakened.

This whole situation is stressful and gives me anxiety I want to leave me alone and stop crawling along my arms like ants, but I knew this was the only option. I still don't like this idea. I don't like not being able to move and go to her just to touch her to reassure myself that she's still alive. My power can feel things, but it's not the same as feeling for myself.

Gods and their Saints know no power could make me feel what I felt this morning.

Five minutes. That's how long it lasted, and still, I felt like that could never be enough. I didn't need the fating bond before to slowly and surely fall in love with her, just a few cycles with her sharp wit and running a few cons and the casual timing of being crowned elemental rulers and learning that the fate of the world depends on us and our merry band of teenage asses. I still don't know how we haven't died yet, but I'd rather not let that day be today.

I can't lose her - that much I know.

Forget being without half my soul. Cheesy as it may sound, she is my other half, and I'm hers. Completely and utterly bound to her for eternity by nothing more than the beat of my heart.

Gods that sounded incredibly corny.

I just want her back. I want to be able to move over there and just...hold her. It's all I've wanted to do since she told me about the fating bond and breaking it because it would've allowed me to feel everything that she was going through. I understand her reasoning - Saints I would've probably done the same thing, per usual - but there are some things that will take time to forgive.

Much as I love my friends and am thankful for the Ginerva and Willa, I don't like secrets. I've kept some of my own, mind you, but not like this. I hid going out at night without permission, but I went with my guard and was mostly perfectly safe. I didn't hide that my friend was fated, that it broke, and that they were raped and got pregnant because of it. Yes, I would've been mad and maybe have even created another clearing like this, but I'm not stupid. I wouldn't have done anything too irrational, and they would've stopped me. That, I can trust them with. To stop me when I'm going too far.