Bab 18: TREAD CAREFULLY

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words caught in his throat, choking him with regretful memories. He had spent so long running from the life he once knew, only to be haunted and confronted with the consequences of his past actions. First through the dreams which plagued his sleep, then through Felix's pursuit of him and now through this confrontation with his cousin.

"I had no choice."

When he noticed her eyes burning with fresh tears, his eyes widened and he stared in disbelief. The harsh, pained look etched upon her face starkly contrasted with the vibrant, carefree little girl he remembered years ago before they broke into teenagers. It was a testament to the pain she had endured in his absence. Her lips trembled, the tears she had fought to contain now spilling down her cheeks.

Again he cautiously stepped forward and his hand shook slightly as he slowly brought it up, fingers grasping the cool metal of the nozzle. She stood motionless, her gaze unwavering and her eyes like pools of onyx bore into his very soul. Not a single muscle in her body betrayed the turmoil that must have been raging inside her except the storm brewing in her glistening eyes.

The weight of the firearm was heavy in his hand, each ounce of it a stark reminder of the power it held. As his index finger inched down to rest atop hers, he felt the cold steel of the trigger thrumming beneath his touch. The thought that a mere fraction of pressure on their entwined fingers could unleash irreversible consequences weighed heavily on his mind.

Her eyes bore a mix of fear and disapproval, silently pleading with him to resist the temptation to do anything he could regret with a single, fateful squeeze.

The decision lay in his hands and his hands alone.

"Don't do anything stupid, Gino. Just give me the docket."

Swallowing hard, he tightened his grip, his knuckles turning white with effort. The air grew thick, suffocating as the seconds ticked by, each one feeling like an eternity.

"You're not gonna shoot me, Rhayader." He pushed the weapon down.

As they stood facing each other, their eyes met for a fleeting moment. She gazed up at him, her expression pale and filled with a mixture of emotions. Her chest gently rose and fell in a rhythm with her breath and in that instant, everything else around them seemed to fade away. The world appeared to move in slow motion and the sounds of the surroundings became distant echoes.

His heart ached at the sight of her pain.

Slowly, with a sense of longing and tenderness, he extended his arm towards her. At first, she flinched away from him but gently he drew her close into his embrace.

For a brief moment, she tensed in response but soon she exhaled softly, yielding to the warmth of his hug. She delicately encircled her arm around his waist, finding solace as she nestled her head against his sturdy shoulder. Gradually, she surrendered to him and as time went on, he could feel the knots of tension in her body loosen in response to his comforting touch.

"You are such an asshole," she seethed with a tremble in her voice, her fingers painfully digging into the flesh of his shoulder. With a sudden burst of fury, her fist shot out, connecting with his side with a frustrated blow.

He stumbled backwards, the impact knocking the wind from his lungs. Shock registered on his face as he stared at her. "Why are you so abusive?"

Her eyes blazed with a mixture of anger and hurt before she reached out and pulled him back into an embrace, resting her head on her shoulder. Again, with a look of understanding, he wound his arms around her, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

He remembered the day he left Gwalia, his hometown. God, even calling it that, his hometown, did not taste right in his mouth. It never felt like home. It never was home. The thing that was forever deeply ingrained in his memory was the way people's eyes would follow him back then. With judgement and fear...

He was, although he hated to admit it, the town's drunkard. He did not care about the title though. Well, perhaps he did because he hated being perceived as an alcoholic mess. Deep down, he would have had to care if he despised the judgemental looks.

Actually, now that he thought about it, no. He definitely did not care about the judgemental looks. What really bothered him was what it did to his step siblings, Mordoqueo and Kiana.

He left as soon as he sobered up that night, after that argument with his mother outside the pub she worked at. His movements were rushed and panicked, and he just grabbed whatever his hands made contact with. Kiana was occupying one of the sofas and Mordoqueo was hogging the floor, spread eagle.

He tried to be as quiet as possible so that he would not wake them from their deep slumbers. They had school the following morning. He did not want to disturb their sleep.

The last thing he took was the jar of money on the counter, his sister's savings for the school trip she was excited to go to. She had gushed about how thrilling it was going to be to see the animals at the zoo so she could protest their capture. As he walked out of the door, his heart painfully clenched inside his chest and his stomach sank at the thought of never seeing them again.

He did not realise the sort of effect that leaving would have on the ones who cared about him. How could he easily abandon the three people who had always been there for him, no matter what he was going through? He cursed himself for his selfishness and his failure to be there when they needed him most.

"I did not mean to stab you that night," Rhayader whispered to him, her voice muffled by his shirt.

He chuckled, the deep rumbling of his voice cutting through the silence. "Yes, you did."

With an amusement in her tone, she admitted, "Yes, I did."

"And that's okay. You've always been a bit of a bitch."

"Shut the fuck up."

In a serene moment, they found themselves suspended in a weightless silence, enveloped by a myriad of lighthearted emotions. The tension that hung in the air seemed to dissolve into the surroundings, transforming into intangible particles that hovered between them.

"Although I hate to break this heartwarming reunion," Luca spoke up behind him, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "were we not on the run from people who were trying to kill us? And wasn't the woman you are currently embracing one of those people?"

He rolled his eyes at his sardonic tone, pulling back to hold Rhayader at arm's length and had to resist throwing his head over his shoulder to glare scathingly at him. Under his breath, he muttered, "Shut up, Luca."

"Oh, come now, mortal," he purred playfully and he turned around to face the bane of his existence, seeing the twisted grin curling onto his lips. "Is that any way to talk to your saviour?"

He scoffed.

Rhayader quickly brushed away the tears on her face and watched the exchange with a confused scowl. "Seriously, who is he?"

He narrowed his eyes at Luca. "A pain in my ass, that's who."

Luca chuckled, unfazed by his disdain.

His gaze flickered back to his cousin who seemed in deep ponder. "Uncle Felix is gonna kill me for this."

"Come with me," he urged her with his eyes burning with a sense of urgency. "I have people who can protect you. Give you a new identity, a chance to start anew."

She hesitated, her brow furrowing and he could see the conflict raging within her. "You know I can't do that."

"Why not?"

She shook her head. "Felix is a determined fuck. If you betray him, he will always find a way to find you. How do you think we always know where you are at all times?" she mused. "The only way you walk away from family is through a body bag, Gino."

Somewhere in the throngs of the vegetation, he could hear the men yelling orders at each other. Their voices were growing closer.

"There is a cave a few feet that way," she said to him urgently after pointing him in the direction of this cave. "You can hide in there for a while. I'll try to lead them away from here to give you enough time to make it to the road and hail a car down."

"Thank you, Rhayader."

She nodded with a warm smile. "Go."

After quickly checking behind him to ensure they were not being followed, he made a subtle hand motion, signalling for Luca to quietly join him.

Their continued journey through the dense forest was clumsy and disorienting, but soon the landscape transformed, opening up to reveal a vast, windswept tundra, where the only sound was the haunting howl of the relentless wind.

As Luca disappeared from view, manoeuvring to the left and vanishing behind a rugged rock formation, he hastened his steps too. Rounding the same corner, he encountered the very cave entrance that she had described, yawning wide and ominous before him.

"We should be safe here for now," he said to him quietly as he turned to face Luca, the flickering shadows playing across his haggard features. His heart pounded as he crouched in the dark confines, his eyes trained on the opening.

Luca opened his mouth to respond, but when he heard footsteps outside the cave entrance, he instinctively sprung over to place a trembling hand over his mouth before he could utter a word, stifling any noise that could give away their position.

"Shh," he whispered urgently, pulling him deeper into the shadows of their hidden alcove. "Someone is out there."

Luca furrowed his eyebrows in an irked manner, but he nodded silently, his warm breath tickling the palm of his hand. He held his breath, straining to listen for any sign of the approaching stranger. When their gazes locked, he found himself staring into vivid green eyes that seemed to radiate like familiar emeralds in the dim light.

At that moment, he became acutely aware of their physical closeness, feeling the heat of their bodies almost melding together. Luca's focus drifted down to his pursed lips, and he could not help but notice his own breath hitching in his throat at his actions.

"Gino," he heard Felix's voice near the mouth of the cave.

He instantly broke eye contact with Luca, throwing his head over his shoulder. How did that bastard find them? He tensed in apprehension, heart pounding.

"You two, check in the cave," he barked an order. "You, go down to the river where Rhaya said she last saw them."

"Yes, sir."

He fearfully pressed himself against the cool rock wall, pulling Luca close to shield him from view. Their clothes were still damped from the river rapids, clinging to their bodies in the chilly air. When Luca shifted around against him, he glanced up at him and his mind raced with thoughts of concern. Was he feeling uncomfortable being this close to him? Swallowing hard, his eyes locked with his to silently plead for him to understand why he was doing this.

Luca gazed down at him, drinking in the sight of his flushed cheeks and parted lips. His eyes flickered away when he caught the flickering silhouettes moving towards them. Reaching up, he tensed up when Luca brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead and when his fingertips trailed along the curve of his face, his brows flicked down in surprise.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

"I know you're in there, son."

They both froze, the steady rhythm of their heartbeats

Grabbing the hand on his mouth and tugging it down, Luca urgently whispered under his breath, "Siofra and Quartz, by moonlight's glow, appear before me."

He stared up at Luca perplexed, the words which just left his mouth not registering in his mind. Until he turned around when a bright light started to flicker in the darkness. It grew brighter, coalescing into two luminous figures. His breath caught in his throat as the luminous orb solidified into the form of a being, casting a light upon the curved edges of the cave and dancing through the air,

"My leash," the being spoke, her voice thin and airy in the cave.

His eyes widened in shock when another diminutive figure materialised before him and he nearly let out a scream of fright if not for Luca palming his mouth.

The beings hovered effortlessly, their gossamer wings shimmering with an otherworldly light.

"You have summoned us, Princeps Tenebris," the new one whispered, his voice like the tinkling of wind chimes. "What is it you require of us?"

He blinked in disbelief, backing away cautiously.

What the fuck?

"Get me and this mortal out of this alcove," Luca demanded with a regal tone in his voice.

"How do you expect us to do that, my prince?"

Prince?

"Warp us out with your magic pixie dust, I don't care."

Magic pixie dust?

The flying beings exchanged a knowing glance as if they were not surprised by his words.

"To commune with the spirits that dwell on the planes of the surface is dangerous, my prince."

She extended her tiny hand to him. "The spirits are capricious and unpredictable, stuck to roam this world with unfinished business. You must tread carefully, my leash, lest you incur their wrath."

"Especially now that you, yourself, are a mortal."

Luca seemed caught off guard, his head bowing to ponder their words. He watched the emotions passing through his eyes before he definitively pressed his lips down, masking his shock behind an impassive expression. Nodding solemnly, he said, "Whatever the price is, I shall make sure to reward you greatly for this."

Their eyes shone and they both wore mischievous smiles on their faces. "As you wish, my leash."