For Peace

23. Reflection of the Future

Smut warning! Did I mention this book also has 33 chapters and an epilogue? This book also has 33 chapters and an epilogue.

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The companions stayed up during the night and waited for the light of dawn to shoo away any sinister Reds tracking them before they dared to sleep. Without the protective cloak of the dark, the fiends didn't dare attack the watchful group.

Seonghwa craved sleep, especially after the many hours wasted by rolling around, plagued by dread. They wanted to rest and celebrate on their way back, and, once they returned to Alverton, catch up on everything that had no time while they were being watched from the trees.

However, what he craved even more than rest was Hongjoong. The gargoyle had been observing him with those eyes that blazed like stars, ready to eat him and up indulge in the joy that illuminated Seonghwa's aura. Whenever their hands brushed or their gazes crossed, the intensity of his eyes turned Seonghwa's belly into a coil of heat. He knew the gargoyle held back, leaving all the things he wanted to say unsaid, but Seonghwa wanted to hear them.

Once it was time for them to roll up in their blankets and get some shuteye before they would demand their legs to carry them through the fields of Alverton once more, Seonghwa couldn't take his curiosity any longer. Or perhaps it was the desire to receive Hongjoong in the same way. He wanted to hold him close, to vow that he would never leave. Finally, Hongjoong's wish to heal Seonghwa had come true.

The priest was all his.

When Seonghwa perched in wait on his bedroll instead of curling up like the others, Wooyoung studied him where he sat guard and counted his coins. Even Mingi had laid down to relax, and he seemed pale by the loss of energy.

If it meant a stop to his sardonic comments, Seonghwa would take it.

Hongjoong sat in a tree with Perie and teased her with a piece of meat. Whenever the wyvern snapped at it so brusquely that their entire branch trembled, Hongjoong tugged the treat from her reach.

Never tired of the same game, Perie jumped around on him until leaves rained onto the forest floor.

Since they hadn't made a fire to not alert the Reds of their location, Yunho and San had curled up tightly around each other to split the heat. Under their shared blanket, they looked a tad too close. San's leg was thrown over Yunho's hip and the man's face contorted into brief flashes of frowns ever so occasionally.

When a breathy whimper, so quiet that Seonghwa would have taken it for the sigh of the wind if Yeosang didn't turn his head, fell from San's lip, Seonghwa lifted his head with a pout. His eyes found Hongjoong, who looked back with an amused expression.

"Something you need, lamb?"

His need stood written in his face, clear as day. Seonghwa cursed him and his stubbornness for holding out even now.

"Some of your time, please," Seonghwa replied with as much dignity as possible. Wooyoung snickered to himself. Yeosang rested his head against Jongho's shoulder where they sleepily stared into the stars together.

"I'm all yours," Hongjoong purred. He let Perie have the meat and shooed her to sit with Wooyoung as he descended the tree. Once he stood on the ground, he held his hand out for Seonghwa to take. Trustful of his claws, Seonghwa let himself be pulled along.

They didn't wander far, rather risking to get heard than being too far away in case something happened. Yeosang said his nose was so familiar with the scent of the Red sleeping drugs now that he would pick up on it even in sleep, but they could never be so sure.

Above them, the skies blushed the pink of the morning as they strolled the lush forests. They followed the cheerful trickle of the rivulet nearby. Yunho had explored it earlier to bathe and he had recommended its freshness to the priest.