A Flash In The Densest Shadow: From Forest To Flames #2

by K. Lyn Hill

  She made a disgusted noise with her mouth. “Ewww.” She picked up a pillow to throw it at him, but he just chuckled and caught it. “Your sleeping on the floor tonight.”

  “What? You’re afraid you won’t be able to resist me next time?”

  She wanted to throw something else at him but couldn’t see anything else loose nearby. “Ug you boys are so cocky.”

  He smirked again. “Why, thank you.”

  Before she gagged, she shot him a glare, grabbed her clothes and rushed into the bathroom.

  “Don’t take it personally sweetheart. It happens each morning with or without you in the bed.” He called out as she slammed the door shut. Normally he didn’t unnerve her but something about want happened felt different. He was her best friend. His body against hers like that made her want to squirm. What flabbergasted her though was that he didn’t seem as disgusted as her. Granted, they always joked around, but this seemed real.

  She shook her head as she tried to scrub the feeling of him off her body. No, it was just her imagination. They were like brother and sister. He was just joking.

  He had to have been just joking.

  ∞∞∞

  Eli

  As soon as the bathroom door shut, Eli let out a quiet groan. He had been grinding on his best friend in his sleep and he had been dreaming really freaky dreams about her too. He was also pretty sure he whispered her name while he was at it. God, he wanted to crawl in a hole and die. She didn’t love him like that, as much as he wished she did.

  Up until now, He had done pretty good at hiding his feelings.

  Then they had to share a bed…Enough said.

  Trying to play it off seemed to distract her from seeing the truth but the disgusted sound she made as he teased about it, told him all he needed to know.

  Rubbing a hand down his frustrated face, he glared at his traitorous crotch in reprimand, still in a full- fledged solute as it remembered how good she felt against him. All this time he had tried to convince himself that he could handle just being her friend.

  He was so screwed.

  Thankfully he had flustered her enough that he was able to get a moment to breathe and compose himself. It wasn’t working very well though. His heart still pounded out of his chest. After a few minutes of breathing and thinking of every fat, ugly woman he knew, he was almost normal… Then she stepped out of the bathroom.

  The pants the captain had given her were made for someone a bit thinner, so they hugged her curves in all the right places. The ruffled shirt she had on, was tucked into the waist band while her long curly hair was dripping wet. She made fast work of tying it in a braid, but a few strands fell out and shifted over her green eyes. He swallowed and stared very intently at the sheets. Only that didn’t help much because it reminded him of holding her while in the bed.

  “Your turn. You stink.” She playfully used her old shirt to whip him in the thigh. He was thankful that she was skipping over the embarrassing incident, joking like her normal self and not calling him out on his bull crap. But she wasn’t stupid and she knew him better than anyone. She was letting this go on purpose and it was because she wanted to ignore her newly discovered knowledge.

  Just because he wanted to see her cute little mouth drop open, he replied, “You weren’t complaining about my smell this morning.”

  He walked to the bathroom and smacked her butt with his hand on his way in. She let out a squeal and raised her hand to punch him, but he was already in the bathroom locking the door with cackling laughter.

  ∞∞∞

  New Orleans, 3 Years Ago

  Aerity

  “Ok, I can’t feel my face.” Aerity motioned a slapping gesture with her hand trying to shake some feeling into her numb cheeks. Her butt was planted firmly in the soaking wet grass. They had consumed far too much alcohol already that night for anything good to come of it and yet nothing felt better at that moment.

  “We should go to New Orleans every day!” She hollered as Eli stared at her through glassy eyes with a loose smile on his face.

  “You know, you are kind of hot when we are both plastered.” He slurred as he dragged his body over to where she was laying, planting himself on elbows above her.

  She released a wheezing laugh. “You have to be plastered to find me attractive? What a compliment.”

  His eyes were hazy as she glanced up at him, she struggled to focus on which of the three Eli’s were speaking to her. “Why are there three of you?” She swatted at the air, but he grabbed her hand mid swing.

  “The better to love you with my dear. And you know what I mean. Obviously you’re always hot but it feels different now. Like with alcohol in me, it’s ok for me to act on it.”

  She snorted. “Eww gross.” She tried to roll over, but he had her pinned beneath him.

  “Why have we never given us a try before?” Tilting his head to the side, he examined her.

  He chose now to have this conversation? Really? They never approached the subject. Only made fun and eluded to it. After a

  while it just became one big joke that they brushed off. Now that they were drunk and she couldn’t think straight, he wanted to bring this up.

  Typical guy.

  Trying again, he pushed at the pesky curl that had blown across her eye. She had been blowing at it for the past minute to no avail. It stayed right where it wanted to until his fingers swept it to the side.

  He huffed. “You’re my best friend. It could work.”

  She shook her head as her upper lip curled. Seeing as though he was oblivious to life, he ignored the hint and leaned in closer. In a less subtle maneuver, she placed her palms against his chest. “Get your slobbery face away from me.” She attempted to push him away, but she reached out to the wrong image. She swatted at the air again. He just laughed. A giggly nasally sound that was so un Eli like. He was normally smooth and charming. This nerd version, she didn’t know what to do with.

  “We should at least try it just to say for sure that we made the effort. If it doesn’t work out, then we can go back to how things are now.” She supposed drinking brought out the philosophical side of him. Not her. All she wanted to do currently was chase unicorns.

  They totally existed.

  “Kissing you would be like kissing my brother. Why don’t you go back to the girl from last night? You clearly are just horny and I’m the only girl around. What was her name? Kiki?”

  He took a swig as he laughed again, spitting it all over her. Disgusted, she wiped a hand down her wet face and shot him a glare. A dreamy expression filled his face. Obviously, his night with Kiki was well spent. He had ditched her in the center of the town square and left her to her own devices, so he could hook up with some hoochi mama. She would have been bitter if she hadn’t met Julian, who took pity on her and offered her some company. Nothing happened with him, but he showed her around town and was fun to look at. That was all she needed until Eli came back and graced her with his presence that very morning, ready to party all over again. Tonight however, he had stuck it out with her. She figured he realized that she would permanently make him childless if he ever abandoned her again.

  His string of girls was just one of the million reasons she would never end up with him.

  “Her name was Teresa. You’re not even close. Where did you get Kiki from?”

  She made it up, clearly. Why not? He should have been happy she didn’t say Candy. “Because all your girls have stripper names in my mind. I’m surprised you don’t have to throw dollar bills at them to keep them performing. Not to mention the fact that you remembered her name. That’s new for you. I’m so proud!” She pretended to gush over his gentleman qualities. Snort. Yeah right. Who was she kidding? He was a total man whore. She had never encouraged nor condoned his behavior with girls. He either broke their hearts into a billion pieces or they used each other for meaningless sex. She supposed there could be worse things he could do but the thought still bothered her.

  No. Her and E
li were much better as friends.

  She wanted something special. Devotion. One of a kind, love. She would never have that with him, and she would be fooling herself into believing she could. Clearly, he was just toasted, and she just so happened to be the only girl within reaching distance. She rolled her eyes as he wacked at her arm playfully.

  “Jealous?” He smirked and any other girl would have dropped their pants.

  Her. Not so much.

  “Don’t fool yourself. Woman crawl on their hands and knees for me. I get it for free. Besides, I have to get it from somewhere since I can’t get the woman of my dreams.”

  She groaned as he waggled his eyebrows at her and nudged her with the point of his elbow. “Riiiiight.” She shoved him off, sat up and took another gulp of her beer. He leaned back on his elbows and chuckled. Misjudging the distance to the ground, he wobbled as he fell and then caught himself unsteadily. “Have you ever done something illegal?”

  She wondered about the abrupt change of subject but ignored it. That or she forgot that they weren’t talking about that before. It was a stupid question and he knew it.

  “My dad is a cop. What do you think?” Her head had begun to spin as she stared at her fifteen fingers. That didn’t seem right.

  “I think we should do it.”

  She shifted her floating head towards him, trying to think back to what they were just talking about. “Do what?”

  “Something illegal. What do ya say? What happens in New Orleans, stays in New Orleans?”

  She shot him a conspiring grin as she struggled to focus on his multiple blurry faces. Eli was always good for a fun time. The crazier the better. So before she could even think better of it, she leaned forward and looked him straight in his ‘crazy, this is going to hurt’ eyes and said, “What did you have in mind?”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Damien

  Benjamin strolled into his office after being summoned, his robes dragging on the floor over his hunched form. Damien hadn’t even bothered showering when he got back, wanting desperately to hear what the king’s advisor had to say. He shuffled up to his desk and slowly lifted his head up. “You called for me, Your Highness?” He croaked, the words barely making it out of his throat without a cough.

  Damien didn’t even bother with niceties. “You were around when my father sanctioned off the forest, yes?” He asked and milky white eyes widened at his question.

  “Yes Sir.” The door opened as a maid stared wide eyed between the two men and he instantly recognized her. What was Carly doing there?

  “I just came to bring you your tea, Your Highness. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Damien stared at her for a moment as she scrambled to swiftly set the tea on the table. Interesting thing was, he didn’t order any. In fact, he never ordered the dreadful stuff.

  Her body jolted when she caught him still looking at her and she tucked her head down and rushed to the door.’

  “Who ordered this?” Damien asked her, taking note to mesmerize her features.

  She shot him a pointed look. “The advisor’s maid thought it would be a nice treat for him. It’s rumored that he does love his tea.” Damien watched her for a moment longer as she nodded her head to the tea. She was trying to tell him something but he had no idea what. Turning back to face Benjamin, he caught a moment of happiness flash across the man’s face as he looked at the steam rising from the kettle excitedly, confirming Carly’s cryptic words.

  He realized she was waiting for him to dismiss her. “That will be all.”

  As she turned to leave, he stopped her. He didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that she would get away with just bursting in his office. “Next time, knock.”

  She nodded sharply before heading to the door. “I apologize, Your Highness.” Then she swiftly slipped from the room. He stared at the closed door a moment longer before turning his attention to Benjamin who had already made his way to the tea. He dumped a lump of sugar and stirred it slowly.

  Damien cleared his throat. “Why did he do it?”

  The man put the saucer to his lips, barely keeping the contents in the cup before he took a sip, swallowed and awkwardly shifted his eyes around the room. Why had Damien not thought to ask this question before? After all these years it hadn’t even crossed his mind. “I think that question should be asked to the king, Sir.” He replied nervously, hiding his extra shaky hands in his robe.

  “I don’t have that luxury seeing as how my father isn’t here, so I ask you again. Why are the woods sanctioned off?”

  Benjamin took a deep breath and gazed back at him. “I have been the king’s advisor for many years. I am loyal to him. When he issues me a command to tell you, I will.”

  Brave or stupid, Damien couldn’t tell. He knew something and Damien was going to find out what. “There have been wild beast attacks and fires, our people lie on the brink of starvation. Your loyalty is misplaced, Benjamin. If you have information that could save lives, you need to tell me. Otherwise all these deaths are on your hands.” He said sternly and saw the man’s determination dispel an inch.

  “Something is hidden in the woods that your father didn’t want you to know about.” He finally said after a few minutes of obvious internal debate.

  “And what is that?” Damien asked patiently, the perfect picture of calm despite the fact he felt anything but. Resting his palms on his desk he leaned in closer. This was it. The key to everything.

  Frightened eyes met his as the old man squirmed. “A woman, Sire.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Aerity

  Aerity wondered how much longer the trip would take. It was close to day six at this point and she was ready to get off the boat. She had gotten into the rhythm of the shifting water. No longer did she feel sick. Although they had given money for their voyage, her and Eli had tried to help on the ship as much as possible. It helped to distract them from what they were going to do when they got off the boat.

  The window was slightly cracked where she could make out the barest of sound as the water teased the underside of the ship. The waves lapped against the side of the boat creating a general lull in the darkness of the night. Mainly silence surrounded her besides the sounds of scurrying stowaways skittering behind the walls and the steady noise of Eli’s breathing.

  As hard as Aerity tried to force herself to sleep, she found that the effort was just beyond her grasp. With her arms crossed under her head, she feared that her thoughts would churn like the sea. Constantly unsteady and never ending.

  Their future was so unsure. Uncertain. She had entered this world thinking she knew it all only to realize that she barely scratched surface.

  She sighed and it echoed off the thin walls.

  If she had looked back three months ago and known this was where she would end up, what would she have done differently? It felt like nothing could have prepared her for what happened and now she was quite sure that nothing could prepare her for what lie ahead. Her stomach grumbled in a mixture of anxiety and hunger.

  Dinner had not settled well that night, more so by the lack of foresight into her future then the rocking motion. She had made a Picasso motif out of her bathroom. Thankfully she had cleaned it up before Eli had to suffer through it. God only knows how much he would have tormented her if he knew. She caught bare glances of his unguarded expressions. He was just as worried as her, if not more.

  She had never asked for any of this to happen, but she thought that if anyone had to endure it, why not let it be her? She had been trained to handle different situations that might arise. Granted, being thrown into another world and then hunted wasn’t exactly on her list of scenarios. But at least she was forced to be strong. To be the glue when things were being ripped apart. Eli wasn’t as good at keeping it together and she feared that the moment he sensed her weakness, he too would slowly fall apart. Not that she would ever tell him of her emotional turmoil. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to get past the little predicament they
found themselves in at the moment, but she was certain of one thing. They would be ok.

  If she was destined to have this world chew her up, if she came out of it alive, it would only make her stronger. And if she was to be lost to it forever, well, then she sure as hell wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  Her stomach grumbled again, and she questioned whether she should try to choke down some more food. It would be hard to avoid Eli if she got sick again. But the waves had calmed while the rest of the boat slumbered so she thought that maybe she would be ok. Regardless, she could use some fresh air. Even with the cracked window, the cabin still felt stifling. Whether it was continually breathing in the same recycled air or the fact that she felt like she was in a sardine in a can, she didn’t know. Just that she needed to get out.

  The deck was quiet but she still heard some footsteps walking about. She figured they had someone on watch. Meandering down towards the pathway, she was relieved to stretch out her legs. The journey was taking a bit longer than she expected and as much as she loved cruising back home, it simply wasn’t the same. A few days aboard this boat felt like an eternity and no one had specified just how many more they had to go.

  The boat wasn’t all that big, and it didn’t take a genius to know where the kitchen was. Despite the late hour there was still a banging of pots and pans, along with the heat that emanated from the ovens. Based on how long she figured she was laying sleepless in bed, it was probably close to four in the morning. Soon the crew would rise to reheated leftovers that were just mixed with additional ingredients to appear like it was a new meal. Aerity didn’t know if the cook tried to fool everyone into thinking each meal was fresh or if the crew simply resigned ahead of time to the knowledge that their meals were going to be limited for the journey. She had yet to hear a complaint from any of them. She suspected that they were just happy they didn’t have to cook it.