Waging War | The Amber Duology #1

43 | Answers Have a Price

The night settled in, covering the sky in darkness and the little dots of stars that were barely visible against the smoke that came from the back of the truck. The winds became colder and nipped at very exposed bits of skin it could find within the crowd of soldiers gathered in the moving vehicle.

It had been hours since they left the camps with orders to 'take care' of a certain package, hours since Kai knocked out a soldier to take his place.

And it had been hours since he last got any sleep.

But even now, when there was nothing but silence and the presence of the night sky surrounding him, Kai couldn't bring himself to sleep. Most of the soldiers the General had assigned to watch over Skylor had no problem in letting themselves relax against one another until Kai was the only one left awake.

Or so he thought.

Skylor was awake too. Her eyes fixed outside the window, her head tilted just a few inches upwards. She was looking at the stars, Kai was looking at her.

He couldn't blame her for not being able to sleep, there were probably dozens of questions running around her head that the physical silence was not enough. When she let out a long sigh, Kai knew he assumed correctly.

The vengestone chains still bound her wrists, a rope was tied around her figure, and a cloth kept her mouth closed. Her robes still had traces of sand and dirt from the Placement Test. Not to mention her hair still had leaves and twigs sticking out from the bun she had secured, enough clutter to get Kai's fingers twitching and fix it himself.

Ruined clothes were one thing but a messed up hair was enough to get Kai as nervous as Jay Walker. He held himself back with a great amount of restraint—and damn did he need a lot—not wanting to blow his cover earlier than he expected.

With the amount of silence that Kai had, his mind took the opportunity to start planning out his next moves and what he would do to rescue Skylor and get themselves both far enough before the General even figured out he was within their ranks.

There was only so much Kai could think before his mind tapped out and suggested winging it.

Besides, how hard could it be to rescue someone that was sent to their death by The General of the Army, not to mention she may or may not be dangerous with her current abilities and could probably take out half the soldiers she was assigned with a snap of her finger, all the while risking his career for someone he found attractive.

Kai glanced in her direction again. Not difficult at all.

Skylor turned her head, as if she knew he was watching, and Kai quickly pulled the front of his cap and trained his eyes on the ground to make it seem like he was doing everything but that. The floor looked so interesting all of a sudden.

He must've looked crazy to Cole and Lloyd when he suggested going after her in the first place. They just didn't have the guts to tell him because he knew it was what they'd do as well.

In fact, Kai still couldn't understand why he was doing this in the first place.

Skylor held no great importance to him, it wasn't like he owed her anything, and there was nothing about her that was forcing his hand to do this so, why? What could Skylor possibly have that Kai's soul had deemed worth saving?

It was an answer he was terrified to know.

As an attempt to get his mind thinking about something else, Kai's gaze focused on the cloud of sand and smoke the truck left in its wake. He was sitting awfully close to the entrance of the vehicle, he could practically inhale the pollution.