Page 104 of Dawn of Hope
His voice drops even lower. “I’m worried that there may be a day where I go but can’t come back.”
“No,” I say furiously. “There has to be a way. Maybe the island just refills it once it gets down? This place is magic. What is stopping it from replenishing on its own?”
“Do we want to take that chance?”
I release a frustrated sigh. “No, of course not.”
It is impossible that the island would just cease helping people from the kingdoms because the dust had run out. That would mean that no one else could ever visit Dawnlin and everyone already here would be…
“Trapped,” I breathe, my eyes glazing over and unable to focus.
“What?” Dane asks. He places a finger under my chin and lifts slightly so I am looking into his face.
I clear my throat and try again. “If there is no more dust, all of us here, we’ll be trapped. It won’t matter if we find the cure or not. There will be no way to get home without it.”
“That would put an end to Dawnlin. We can’t let that happen.”
I gaze into the pouch at the small amount of dust at the bottom. “How much do you think is left? How many trips will that get you?”
“There and back, maybe three? Or four? It’s just an estimate. I can’t be exact. It takes more dust if there are more people.”
I nod. “Okay, then we need to keep searching for the cure, butalso try to find out if there is any information on how to replenish it. Maybe the previous Guardian kept notes or journals? Have you found anything like that?”
He shakes his head. “I haven’t looked, but we could try.”
“We have to try. We can’t strand everyone here. It was a choice before, choosing to stay, but if we run out, then that choice is taken from everyone.”
He cracks a smirk. “Just like old times, trying to find answers hidden away in old books.” I roll my eyes, not wanting to recall his deception early in our relationship.
Now I’m the one being deceptive.
He pulls the strings, closing the pouch. The glow disappears, and he hooks it back to his belt. “We need to keep this between us. I don’t want to spread panic among the Voyagers.”
“Absolutely,” I reassure him. I don’t want to deal with the potential fallout of everyone being trapped on the island, either. I don’t even want to think about it myself.
“Good.”
Despite our plan, I know I am going to be worried all night, reeling with the thought of being here forever.
As if enough hadn’t already happened today.
Dane gives me a sweet but heated goodnight kiss before heading back to his side. I don’t see Lilly on the climb up to my bunk and assume she took one farther down. I sit down on my bed and reach in my shirt to pull out the map. This small thing could have made tonight end much differently. I toss it onto the shelf and lay on my side.
Today was a nightmare. I hadn’t even told Dane everything that had happened. I doubt Storm would keep it from him, but that was the least of my worries. My mind is elsewhere.
Had I been trying to force things with Dane tonight, doing anything to erase the guilt? Did the touch of the man in the cave really affect me that much?
I huff angrily and roll onto my back, staring at the stars blinking in the sky.
I don’t want to admit to myself that maybe the map stopping anything from happening tonight was for the best. I care for him, and he for me, but I don’t want to be with him in that way if it is tinged with guilt and other emotions.
That isn’t what I want.
I fall asleep trying to put the thoughts out of my mind, willing my body not to feel the desire that had been coursing through me today, and ignoring the voice in the back of my head that keeps reminding me it wasn’t for Dane.
CHAPTER FORTY
The next few days pass in a haze. I spend most of them alone, trying to work past my emotions and clear my head, using searching as a distraction. I know Dane isn’t leaving the island any time soon unless he is called and has no choice, but it feels like I am avoiding him.