“Everyone ready?” Gordon asked.
I nodded like everyone else, and then we began our ascent up a steep set of jagged stone steps. After I climbed just a few, my thighs began to burn. Gordon raced up them like he had been here a million times—he probably had. Mia headed up the group, Leo pulling up the rear. Dylan walked next to me, seeming to find this walking in the moors easier than I was. Travis and Cael were behind us, with Lili and Jade up ahead with Mia.
Halfway up, I glanced behind me. Cael was climbing the steps with ease, not even a flush of exertion on his face. I had no idea why he hadn’t passed Dylan and me to take his obvious place at the front. Travis was clearly finding it hard, but Cael stayed beside him, eyes focused on the top of the steps. Until he looked at me, and I quickly faced forward again. Just by looking at him, I couldn’t help but replay yesterday in my head. In the living room. When he had jumped from his seat and thrown his journal into the fire, when he had challenged Leo and Mia. He was so angry. It seemed to pour from his every cell. Yet there were moments. Short, barely there moments where he caught my eye and his hostility disappeared and left the ghost of a sad and vulnerable boy in its wake. Only for it to capture him once again and bury him beneath high flames.
And yesterday … Cael had met my eyes in my moment of sadness. When that journal was placed in my lap and I began to break. He had seen me begin to fall apart, and the understanding I saw in his silver-blue depths reached out to me. Like for a moment, he just …
got me.
The journal was designed to give me a place to talk to Poppy. To tell her how I’d been since she’d been gone …
My heart twisted just recalling the sheer terror that had sent through me. Because I could only tell her how I had failed. How I had crumbled. How life without her seemed pointless. How, after she died, something within me had collapsed, shattered my heart and soul into so many pieces it was impossible to ever glue them back together. That when she took her last breath, all my joy for life left too. That I had held her hand so long after she died that her fingers had been molded into a clutching position when I was finally forced to let her go.
And I would have to tell her that I had let her down. That I had failed her so badly that it had impacted everyone’s life around me. Ida, Mama, Daddy … I had no friends, no life, and I was scared.
I was petrified that I would never be able to let her go. That this would forever be my lot—
Suddenly, my ankle overturned, and I stumbled on one of the many cracked and uneven stones. I felt myself begin to fall back. Dylan turned just as my heart dropped, but he was too far away to catch me. Then, just as I feared I was about to crash to the ground, strong arms took me in their hold and kept me standing. I scrambled to grip on to the black sleeves of a jacket, and I knew exactly who had caught me the moment I smelled that familiar scent of sea salt and fresh snow.
“I’ve got you,” Cael said quietly, when my boot slipped once more on the icy ground, and I tried to find my balance. His voice sent shivers down my spine, ones that had nothing to do with the freezing temperatures and everything to do with the closed-off boy from Massachusetts who held me tightly in his arms.
And I felt he did have me. In his arms, I felt safe.
My racing heart began to slow as Cael righted my feet and steadied me on the step above him. I closed my eyes and managed to ward off my panic, then turned to face Cael. It took me a moment to realize that his hands were still on my waist. I swallowed deeply when I met his eyes. I was a large step up from where he stood, and he was still considerably taller than me. He was wearing a black beanie, but a few strands of his dark, messy waves escaped to fall over his striking silver-blue eyes.
“Thank you,” I said, and Cael searched my face. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but I felt my cheeks begin to burn under his attention. This time, my heart was racing for an entirely different reason. A feeling I wasn’t used to.
He cleared his throat. “Are you hurt?” he asked. His New England accent was strong—thick enough to rival my Georgian. I was so struck by him talking to me softly that I didn’t answer him.
But then he pushed. “Savannah?” Cael speaking my name brought me back from my wayward thoughts and grounded me again.
“Savannah? Are you okay?” Leo rushed to us and stopped beside Cael. Cael never took his eyes off me.
Dylan rushed to my side, and I caught everyone watching. I felt Cael’s hands on my waist tighten slightly as the others pulled my focus.
Feeling my face burn from all the attention, I said, “I’m fine.”
Cael began to bend down, and I swallowed as a strand of his dark hair brushed over my cheek. It smelled of mint. He checked my ankle, his large hands wrapping around my boot, testing the flexibility. There was no pain.
Embarrassment seemed to be my only injury.
“That okay?” he asked gruffly as he bent it left and right, making slow, careful circles.
“Yes,” I said, voice hoarse.
“You sure?” Leo asked, concern on his face. I wouldn’t be the reason the group couldn’t carry on.
“I promise,” I said. It was true. I had been too caught up thinking of Poppy and lost my footing. Thoughts of Poppy often made me lose concentration.
“Okay, then let’s keep going,” Leo said.
Cael released my ankle, and I felt a cold breeze wrap around me at his absence. He stood again then, rocking on his feet, like he was debating something in his head. Then he offered me his arm. “Do … do you need help the rest of the way up?”
I didn’t answer with words. They escaped me at that moment. Instead, I carefully threaded my arm through his and let him walk beside me as we caught up to the others, who were waiting for us at the top. I tried to ignore the light fluttering of wings in my chest that his offer brought.
Dylan flanked my other side. When I felt his stare burning into me, I turned, only for him to subtly nudge his head in Cael’s direction and gave me a bewildered expression. I knew Dylan only liked me as a friend; he’d given me zero romantic vibes. And he clearly found Cael helping me as surprising as I did.
I hadn’t had many friends in my life. My sisters were always my everything. But I had felt an instant connection with Dylan. He was sweet. And funny. And I was pretty sure he was a complete lost soul, just like me. Only his bubbly personality awarded him a better facade, and his suffering was successfully disguised.
Cael’s arm was strong under mine. He didn’t say anything as we climbed.
But our shared silence didn’t feel strained. It was …
nice. Peaceful. I’d always been quieter in nature. I didn’t need noise to fill any kind of void.
But this, to be serenely silent with another person, was a blessing I wasn’t expecting on this trip. People always wanted to talk. It seemed Cael shared my preference for silence.
When we reached the top step, any cold I had been feeling from the harsh wind and low temperatures had vanished, and a sheen of sweat covered my forehead.
I fought to cool down, to catch my breath, my thighs screaming in exertion.
“Are you okay?” Lili asked me. Jade and Mia listened in too.
“Yeah, I promise. I just slipped.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.