I interrupted their intense stare-off. “Are you talking about that fire-encasing that she did before?”
Dune nodded. “Yes, when she uses it, energy flows through our people. I’ve never felt a draw like it before.”
“So what do I do? I can’t run from them anymore. They know I’m with the tribes and they’ll just keep taking the women until I give in.” Fury’s face flushed in anger, her eyes narrowed, fine lines spreading along her red forehead.
“You leave with me,” I said.
She sneered and actually rolled her eyes at me. “Uh, I don’t think so. You’re crazier than the nomads.”
Dune stood then, moving to check on his food. “You should consider her offer, Fury.” He spoke over his shoulder. “I’m only one person and cannot protect you here.”
She flew to her feet. “Oh right, you’re so ready to just throw me away. What? Are you already sick of the responsibility?”
He took two large strides to stand a mere breath away from her. His hands gripped her upper biceps.
“Fury.” His voice was laced with unrestrained anger. “You have been my sole focus from the moment you were born. Our life span is two hundred sun years and I have spent twenty of those keeping you safe.”
It didn’t look like she was even breathing as she absorbed his every word.
“You’re everything, and while I think you should leave Crais for a time, I will not let you go alone. You belong to me and I keep safe what is mine.”
Fury sucked in deeply and then she kissed him. I could see the surprise on Dune’s face. He had not expected that from her, but of course that didn’t stop him responding with passion. My eyes widened as the intensity of their kiss increased. I was pretty sure they’d forgotten I was sitting here. Dune lifted her slightly and moved backwards until Fury was cradled against the rock wall.
“You two just continue on your merry way ... don’t worry about me. I’ll just check on the food.” I shook my head.
It was impossible to see that adoration and not think of Brace, not to mention it was a little weird and uncomfortable.
“But if I see one scrap of your outfits removed, I will not be happy,” I finished.
And considering they wore like two leaves and some string, it would not be hard for them to get naked.
After ten minutes of studiously stirring the broth mixture and humming loudly, I noticed Dune standing at my side.
“I’m sorry. That has been a long time coming for Fury and me.”
I laughed. “I understand, but maybe next time you see it coming you can give a girl some warning. I’ll take a walk or something.”
In reality my eyes were burning and my stomach churning. I needed to do some fighting, because this love stuff was killing me.
A brief grin crossed his rugged features. “Agreed.”
They spent the next few minutes with their heads down, shoveling in the food. It was delicious but I was no longer hungry, the ache in my stomach making it impossible to force any in. I sighed as they exchanged a few more light kisses.
“If you guys want to take a breather from all the adoration, I need to explain to Fury what exactly is required if you both leave Crais with me.” I had reached the point where I couldn’t take one more second of their love.
Fury sneered at me, “I really don’t like you.”
I smiled back. “I really don’t give a flying crap. All I ask is that you do your part to stop the Seventine from basically destroying all of our worlds, and all of the people on them. Including your precious Dune.” I flicked my eyes toward him. “No offence.”
He gave me a good-natured nod.
“So what is my part?” Fury asked, her brow wrinkled.
About time she started to worry.
“Look, I’ll be honest I don’t know a lot, our main focus now is to stop them from being released. If the seven happen to be freed, we half-Walkers are the only ones with the power to contain them. At this stage, my mission is to gather all the halflings just in case, and I think either way there will be some type of battle in the end.”
“Wow, I feel so much better knowing that you’re on top of this. You have a really detailed plan going on there.”
I sighed. “Keep in mind, Fury, that Walkers are almost impossible to kill, so I can beat you for a really long time.”
“We don’t die?” She stuttered a little. “Does that mean my father is still out there somewhere?”
“Yes, there’s a chance that you could meet your father.” I raised a hand to smooth the near permanent wrinkle on my forehead. “And back to your previous confidence in our plan. Yes, it’s true that we don’t know everything. In fact, I have only known for a few months that any of these worlds even existed. But we have no choice. Billions of lives are at risk of permanent extinction.” Would that melt the fire queen’s heart? “At the moment we spend our time training and learning our powers, except for me, of course, who has to waste my time trying to convince whiny brats that they need to pull their heads out of their own butts.”