The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 42

A burst of warmth touched Iris' lips.

Her eyes flew wide open.

She sat bolt upright, looking around for the fairy. There were Char and Rath, already awake and rolling up their bedrolls under the dusky sky, and there were the smoldering ashes from last night's fire...

"Good morning!" Rath called to her.

"Good morning." She was slow to climb out of her bedroll, still looking in all directions for a tiny golden orb. The sun was but a thin orange line peeking over the eastern horizon, so spotting the fairy's light should have been easy.

"Is something wrong?" Char asked.

She shook her head. "I don't think so. Well... Maybe."

"So, that's a yes," Rath said.

She scanned the area again, and then she shrugged. "I could have sworn—there you are!"

The fairy had smoothed out her bedroll and was rolling it into a tight cylinder. She squatted next to it and smiled.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Once it had secured the bedroll, the fairy flitted up to hover in front of her face, and then it darted in to touch her lips before it zipped away. She giggled and stood, gesturing toward the soft golden glow shining brighter than the first rays of sunlight.

"We have a stowaway."

Char came to her side and frowned at the happy little creature. "Are you sure there's only one?"

"No, but we can't do much about it either way, can we?"

She smiled up at him and realized he had a bad case of bedhead. It was cute how his shaggy black hair stuck up and out all over the place. She wondered why she'd never noticed it before. They had shared a bed a few times now, after all.

Maybe she had been too distracted by all the kissing.

She swallowed and averted her eyes, her cheeks turning the same shade of pink as the emerging sunrise. "What's for breakfast?"

"The same as dinner," Rath said. "And we're eating on the move. I'd like to put as much distance as possible between us and those soldiers." He handed her a biscuit and a strip of dried meat, and a smirk spread across his lips. "Why are you blushing?"

"Why did we set up camp so close to them?" she countered. There was no way she would admit she'd been thinking about kissing Char. About waking up with him. After sleeping with him.

Her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

"The sky was clear last night," Char explained. "No cloud cover, so landing without being seen was tricky. We had to take the first opportunity we got." He brushed her hair back behind her ear, and although she refused to look at him, she heard the smirk in his voice. "Why are you blushing, Iris?"

"The person who should be blushing is you." Rath smacked Char's sore shoulder and then danced out of his reach. "I get you were concerned about Iris being unconscious, but you didn't have to fall to pieces like that."

Char rubbed his shoulder. "I did not fall to pieces. And could you please stop hitting this shoulder? It's already bruised."

Rath snorted. "Sure. When you stop being an idiot. Catch." He tossed a pack at Char and shouldered the other, and then he began to walk, his face set toward the northeast. "We should have moved somewhere safer," he continued his explanation for Iris. "Loverboy here could have just carried you and let you wake up on your own. But he was too busy freaking out about you not responding to him."