Page 25

twenty-five

Luka

P ausing, Luka listened to the stillness of the forest. Letting out a breath, he continued walking. Thankfully, the forest had a lot of color that was not white, so spotting the peacock would be easy. He had seen it twice already, and both times the bird evaded him. He smiled, he bet Morai was having a tough time as well. He paused again when he heard a chirp sound; frowning, he turned in a slow circle. Was that Noa? Why was he here? Luka cursed as he belatedly realized Noa would have been an asset for this. Carefully so as not to draw attention to himself, he stepped behind a tree and crouched, just as Morai stumbled her way onto the path.

“Are you certain?” she whispered to Noa who chirped happily next to her. Morai frowned looking around her, her hand absentmindedly going to her neck where her pendant was. Luka’s heart expanded. He had not realized she’d kept the clover he had found on one of his assignments; he smiled. She had adamantly refused to take it the first time he’d given it to her, throwing it away, only to return and find it missing. Who knew she’d taken it. Morai blew her hair which had come out of its bun away from her face. Mumbling something, she untied her hairband and proceeded to retie her hair. Her brown eyes widened.

“I see it, Noa, come on,” she said, forgetting her hair she sped off in the direction of the peacock. Cursing his bad luck, Luka followed closely. He could wait so she could get her three feathers then take those from her and have her hunt the peacock all over again. He grinned at the thought. Morai would absolutely despise him for that. He frowned. Should he really be relishing sabotaging her; it was nice when they’d been hiding their feelings, but now? They could just work together. Luka stopped in his tracks at the thought. Then shuddered, no, not a good idea. His family ingrained in him to never work with the Stonehearts just thinking about it was a bit…Luka shuddered again, continuing on his way, when Morai’s shout made him run the rest of the way.

“Morai?” Luka called. Morai was sitting on the ground staring at her arms. Noa trotted towards him, Luka crouched and patted him, his eyes still on Morai. His hands itched when he straightened.

“Morai, are you alright?” he asked when he finally reached her, he crouched again. She had three feathers in her hands and her arms were scratched up.

“It got my arms,” she said, holding them out for him to see. His eyes strayed to her hands that held the feathers. Shaking himself he grabbed her by the elbows.

“You don’t have to heal me; I can take a potion.”

“You left your bags with the others.”

“When I get back,” Morai said, a triumphant grin on her face. Luka scowled.

“Don’t get too excited, I could take those from you.”

“Try it.” Morai challenged. Luka glanced at her hands again.

“Luka?” He turned back to Morai to realize he’d been caressing the inside of her elbows with his thumbs. Morai gulped and he grinned leaning closer to her.

“Do I make you nervous?” he whispered.

“If this is your plan to take the feathers from me, you won’t,” Morai said, and Luka raised a brow.

“It isn’t…but that’s a good idea.”

“Luka…”

“Will you let me kiss you or not?” Morai sputtered and Luka grinned again.

“Do I take that as a yes?” Morai’s cheeks colored before she nodded. She wasn’t even done nodding before Luka kissed her. Morai moaned, grabbing the front of his shirt. Still holding onto her elbows, Luka felt them grow warm as magic left his hands and healed her arms. Morai broke the kiss.

“Did you just heal me?”

“I’m pretty good at multitasking, my Morai.” Morai pulled back from him, and he stifled a groan.

“That is not fair,” she said.

“What, that I can multitask?” Morai lifted her chin, and Luka smirked, leaning in again for another kiss when a loud squawk had them turning. The white peacock stood before them looking at them as if to say how dare you forget about me. Luka slowly let go of Morai and inched his way towards the peacock. It didn’t budge, but Luka was certain any sudden movement would have the peacock sprinting away. Luka dove for it just as the peacock was about to bolt again. It gave another loud squawk as Luka plunged three feathers from it and let it go. He turned to Morai with a grin.

“I didn’t have to take yours after all.”