“I just need to pack quickly!” Silver said, unlocking his door and running inside, leaving the door wide open as he flew around hisspace, or rather floated. He seemed to have a grace to him as he located the stuff he couldn’t live without.
Niam and I smiled at one another. Silver was coming with us. Now we just needed Wilston.
Shortly after, Silver arrived with a few bags. “Now, I don’t do road life well if I don’t get regular showers, so I hope that’ll be a luxury I won’t have to give up.” I grinned at him; glad he wasn’t afraid to be himself around us.
“We got that covered. How about some food? Then we’ll find a place to park and sleep for the night,” I offered, waiting for both to agree. They nodded and together we moved to the van, dismissing our familiars for now.
Chapter 29
Niam
We’d parked by a Chinese restaurant an hour’s drive away, because we all hungered for some fried rice. I was simply pleased to try more food as we travelled. We had no idea how long we would remain on Sutiner, so I wanted to try as much as possible while we were here.
Silver looked exhausted as he shimmied into the booth. Xari and I sat next to each other with Silver on the other side, our view was of the door, always watching out for possible threats.
“We need tofigure out how they’re tracking us,” I whispered, loudly enough for both to hear. “We can’t keep getting attacked while searching for Wilston.”
Xari shook his head. “And the other mages have yet to get here. If it takes them a year, then we’ll have to fight, what, every other day? We’ll be exhausted beyond belief.”
“If Wilston is Silver’s soulmatch, they’ll be able to help,” I reminded him.
“If Wilston wants to come with us,” Silver reminded us. “He might’ve found a family here and wants nothing to do with other mages.”
I hadn’t thought about that. “But surely if he’s your soulmatch that won’t matter?”
He shrugged. “How did you know you two were “meant to be”?”
“Umm, well, Xari knew I was his soulmatch because of the locket, so we knew right away because of that,” I said, hating I couldn’t say something romantic about the first time I saw him.
“Niam thought I was stalking him,” Xari said, not caring at all how badly that painted him. He even sounded fond of the memorynow. “And when he refused to speak with me, I chased him down and kidnapped him.”
Silver’s eyes widened and shot over to do a quick scan of my body. Was he checking if I was mentally unstable, or was he impressed by the fact it had worked for us? I couldn’t tell.
“So, no love at first sight?” Silver questioned, looking pointedly at me.
“Hmm, I remember finding him attractive.” Xari beamed at that. “But because he’d been stalking me, I didn’t feel anything other than scared when he popped up and wanted to chat.”
Xari sighed. “I smiled! Teeth and everything!”
I shook my head, “that made it worse!”
“Still worked in the end,” he muttered, looking over his menu.
“And I’m glad it did,” I said, taking his free hand in mine. “But it wasn’t love at first sight, it might have been if I hadn’t been wary of Xari.” I looked at Silver when I said the next words, “if Wilston is your soulmatch, then you’ll find out eventually, but try to befriend him and see how it goes. I remember that after the whole kidnapping thing, we were drawn to each other rather quickly, lust drivenalmost.” I blushed, but kept talking, “if you can’t keep your hands off of him, then maybe that’s proof enough.”
He nodded, looking deep in thought. I would be confused and tired, too, if I were him.
We ate in silence, all of us ordering the same thing and eating it quickly. We weren’t safe anywhere, but since we couldn’t have our familiars inside the restaurant, we felt even more vulnerable.
Back in the van, we took the locket and focused on Wilston. It didn’t seem to work, though. “It’s still focusing on Silver. How did we shut it off before?” I asked, racking my brain. “Oh!” I said, taking the locket and placing it over Silver’s heart. He startled a bit, not expecting to be attacked with a locket, but then the light burst from it and Silver glowed from the inside out.
“If Wilston is your soulmatch, then maybe he’s glowing, too? We both glowed when it happened to us,” Xari explained.
“Then let’s hope he’s not around other people,” Silver grimaced. “But it’s late so it’s probably the best time we could’ve done this.” He handed us the locket and this time, it warmed in our hands as we thought about Wilston.
“We should be a week’s drive away, if the glow is to be trusted,” Xari said, smiling kindly at Silver. He looked so drained, sitting there squished between us.
“Let’s find a safe place for the night,” I suggested. “We can get a motel room with a separate room for Silver.”
