Duality

part twenty-three

"A week."

"A week?" she repeated loudly. "You let the sun stay in the sky for a week?"

Still avoiding her gaze, he asked, "Did you expect me to risk your current regeneration with another? To possibly double your time?"

Mila thought of the dead crops, the people stuck in the heat. "Is anyone dead?" she asked. She would never forgive herself if while her powers suffered, she'd failed the entire town. If she couldn't handle her powers, what was the point of having them?

Except she didn't have powers anymore.

"They're fine," Ashton said quickly. Darkness fell over Mila, and she looked out the window in surprise. The moon was back, obscuring most of the sun. "I found a way to make clouds, too," Ashton explained.

Impressed by his resourcefulness-Mila probably would have just panicked-Mila asked, "But if this is under control, why not let me regenerate?"

"You know it didn't work."

Eventually, something would have to. "Maybe I have to switch into my powers for something to happen." Thinking over her selfish decision to raise Anna from the dead and defy nature, Mila guessed, "Or maybe I have to kill myself. A sacrifice."

"I don't want to guess anymore."

Mila tipped her head back until she viewed the roof of the hut in exasperation. Did he think she found this fun, unable to control her powers, unable to feel them? If she'd known the answer, she would have said so. "I'm trying-"

"That's not what I meant." He leaned into her line of vision, hands cradling her cheeks. "I want you to meet my guardian."

Truly, Mila didn't feel any lingering bitterness toward him about killing Anna. The idea of seeing another guardian, though, felt stifling. And a little bit dishonest, like if Anna knew, she would be hurt. Instead of voicing the concerns that made no sense, she asked, "Didn't I already meet her?" She remembered an older woman's face above her own.

"Officially, I mean."

"I don't think I have a choice," Mila admitted. They couldn't stay in the hut forever, making no progress. Ashton didn't try to cheer up her resigned tone, moving instead to grab his bow, lift it over his head and right arm, and let it rest against his back.

He strode to her swiftly, intentions clear. "You're not carrying me all the way back." Mila took a step back to the wall, ending her retreat.

Unnecessarily, he gestured to her legs. "Do you think you can walk?"

"I've been doing fine." She'd swayed in standing up and had walked maybe five steps, but surely so long as she didn't think of her legs, they would work. The option of stumbling through the woods seemed better than being carried like a child.

If she didn't put her foot down somewhere, she'd start to forget that she was a powerful immortal at all.

Ashton glanced out the window, then back to her. Scooping an arm under her butt, he pressed a hand against her back to balance her as he carried her outside. "Hey," Mila protested weakly. She didn't push against his hold only because she feared dropping to the ground.

To her surprise, he set her down. If only all of her protests ended with her getting her way.

He whistled low, looking out into the trees.

"Is that going to work, without your powers?" Mila asked skeptically. She couldn't tell if her horses had actually liked him or been charmed by his natural charisma with animals.

"You being here should be enough." Sure enough, Mila watched Doll pick through the trees first, followed by a more cautious Ghost. Ghost came around to greet Mila, exhaling loudly into her hair, while Doll examined Ashton, the one who'd called them.