“Aria will destroy herself before that ever happens!” Daniel snapped.
Ashby rolled his eyes at him. “I’m sure Atticus believed the same thing, before he went completely off the rails. He pretended to be sane for centuries. Many believed he was sane until he destroyed much of the world’s population.”
“There is no way to know the future. All we can hope to do is survive the now, and so far, we are,” Hannah said. “We will take everything else as it comes at us.”
“She’s right,” Max said and winced when he shifted his leg.
Ashby ran his fingers through his hair as he stared at the ground with a look of intense contemplation on his face. Jack winced, his shoulders hunched up when Ashby began to whistle a haunting tune. It was such a habit for him, that he knew Ashby probably wasn’t aware he was doing it, but the sound set Jack’s teeth on edge.
“Ashby, not now,” he said.
Ashby looked up at him with his brow furrowed questioningly.
“You were whistling,” Melinda told him.
“Oh,” Ashby said and looked around the cave once more.
“There was often a store of supplies left within these caves for future humans to use when traveling through.” The rebel’s willingness to share and provide for others within their close knit community was one of the things Jack had always admired about them. Aria’s father, David, had brought him into the rebellion and had been his first real friend. “We need to get these wounds cleaned and dressed. There may still be something we can use within these caves.”
“There were supplies stored in that tunnel,” Daniel said and pointed to the one behind him. “If you lift me, I can take you to them.”
“I’m in better shape. I’ll go,” Max said and climbed to his feet.
“Hannah, stay with Braith,” Jack said and rose. “I’m going to go with him. Ashby, catch me one of those animals.”
Ashby smoothed his hair and rumpled clothes the best he could as his normally composed demeanor slid back over him. Max walked toward him with a slight limp, took hold of the torch Aria had left behind, and moved on toward the tunnel. Jack followed him. He’d come to know these woods and caves well over his years with the rebels, but he hadn’t spent as much time within this cave system as he had some of the others.
Max dug the key out from a crevice in the rocks and unlocked the gate. Habit had Max returning to hide the key before closing the gate and continuing onward. Jack limped after Max as he made his way down the tunnel. The pierced skin and muscle in his thigh and calf knitted itself back together with every passing second, but he couldn’t get rid of the limp, yet.
“What will happen if Braith doesn’t wake up?” Max asked as he turned into another small tunnel. “If he does die?”
Jack watched the fire of the torch flickering over the cave wall as he debated this question. “I have no idea,” he finally admitted.
“Will Aria really die without him?”
At one time, Max had harbored more than friendly feelings for Aria, and before she’d met Braith, she’d also had a crush on the young human, but Jack knew both of them had long since moved past those feelings. Now, Max was asking because he didn’t want to lose his friend. Neither did Jack. He still wasn’t over losing David. He was coping with it much better now, but to lose David’s daughter, the woman who was a sister to him, and his brother…
He couldn’t think about it. He would get through it if it happened, they all would, but the prospect of such a reality made the world a far sadder place in his mind.
“Maybe not right away, but she will want to die,” Jack confirmed. He knew he would want to die if Hannah did.
Max stopped outside of a metal door. Unlike the gates, this one was a solid door with a small window in the center of it. The window was open to allow air to flow through. Max’s eyes were haunted when he lifted his gaze to Jack. “I’m not ready for that.”
“Neither am I,” he admitted.
“Will you become king?”
Jack inwardly cringed at the thought. He wouldn’t turn away from the responsibility, but it wasn’t something he’d ever thought about before, or wanted. He’d been quite content to be third in line for the throne behind Braith and Caleb. He could do as he pleased, which is what he’d done throughout most of his life. “Since he has no children, I would be Braith’s heir.”
Max bent to dig out another key. “If it’s not him or Aria ruling, then I’m glad it will be you.”
“I think Sabine—”
“Do you really believe it’s her?”