The Radiants Chronicons : Vol. I & II Of The Radiants Duology Series

Defiant (Vol. II) - Chapter thirty nine

Chapter thirty nine
I was curled in Levi's arms that dark lowly night. He kissed the top of my head, murmuring against my ear. "Tomorrow is the day."

We had snuck a little beanbag in with us, and decided to come outside and enjoy the glimmering night light. The rooms were too crowded for us to have our personal conversation and this place seemed to have that effect. Besides, it was our new spot. A soft where we shared our deepest fears and our greatest hopes.

I repeated softly. "Tomorrow is the day." And felt a small shiver run through me.

"Cold?" Levi sent me a look and I shook my head. Then he inquired again. "Afraid?"

My eyes snapped to his. "It's hard not to be. What if we die?"

"What if we live?" Was his response.

I gave him a wry look. "I'm serious here. I've been so strong for so long and now, reality's dawning on me. It's so risky. I could lose you. You could lose me. We could lose each other. No matter how untouchable you are, you could still be collateral damage."

Levi pursed his lips. Then something blazed in the hue of his eyes. "You've been so strong. True. You have helped me so much, that I worried I'd be a burden. Let me be your strength, for once. And I'd promise that we'd protect each other till the end."

My heart glowed, and I gently claimed his lips. Someone cleared their throat, as we pulled apart. We turned our gaze to Kitan standing right in front of us.

Levi tilted his head slightly. "Any problem?"

"I'd like to speak to Tamar alone. I hope you don't mind, Clyde."

The teasing in his voice, made Levi snort. "Sure, whatever. You're the boss."

Levi gave me a small smile, before heading inside. I folded my arms. "What's up, Kitan, or are you here to gloat?"

He shifted in his weight. Sandstone eyes softened. "Nop. I just wanted to take one last look at you, before I might never see you again."

I looked away. "I'm sorry I couldn't love you, Kitan. I really tried to—"

"I didn't need you to love me. It just felt good having feelings for someone again. I almost thought I was incapable of that." He ended with a short laugh.

My lips curled up. "Well you have all the time in the world to fall in love. Besides, girls will come piling up. You're handsome and you have sandstone colour of eyes. It's totally swoon worthy."

His nose crinkled. "Sandstone eyes? I never thought of it like that."

"Yep it is. A beautiful sandstone colour and you're not completely terrible. A little hot headed and a wee bit of an egoist, but you're better than so many people I know and you'd do anything for the people you love."

Kitan joked. "Hey, don't say that outside. We wouldn't want anyone from my crew to think that I'm a softie now."

My laugh came out like a short chortle. "Trust me, no one would think that." I paused, giving him a gentle pat on his arm. "I'd really miss you, Kitan, but I understand why you have to stay here."

Kitan nodded. "I think it's pretty evident that I'd miss you too. Just take care of my uncle. After he's better, then he'd come back to do his duties and I guess I'd be free to do whatever I want."

"I thought you loved being a leader." My eyebrows raised.

He shrugged. "I do. I've always wanted to take my uncle's place, but as long as he's still alive, I'd like to give myself options."

I let out a sigh, feeling the breeze lap against my skin. It was a starless night. I did love to see the stars, but the cool air of the night almost made up for it. I shifted my eyes to the wooden fence surrounding the warehouse. It didn't look like it was there for any form of protection. It looked more like a wall of demarcation. No one would dare to step within the walls. They had found a way of getting respect from the locals and now, it was a safe haven for Radiants.

Kitan turned his head. "What will you do when you get to the island? Live a normal life?"

"No, that's Levi's dream. To enjoy his humanity. I, on the other hand, don't think I can ever have that normal life.I'll be thousands of miles away from my family and I still don't know how everything works there. If life would be better or worse? If we were just putting our lives at risk? We can never know. Not until we find out."

Kitan nodded. He ran his eyes across my form. "I'm sure you guys would be fine. If you can survive this, then you'd be able to survive anything else."

★★★
The next morning came, and I doubted if anyone slept. It was hard to, especially with what we were up to. I laid on the bed I shared with the other girls, with my eyes raised up, when Laurena whispered. "You up?"

I whispered back. "I don't think anyone is sleeping."

Laurena sighed. "Good luck out there."

"You too." Came out of my mouth softly.

As if on cue, there was heavy knocks on the door. Olu's distinct deep voice called out from the other side. "Get your selves out. It's time for war."

It didn't take long for us to get ourselves dressed and hop into our getaway vans. Presently, we were more than 30 members of our new taskforce. Aside from us; which consists of the remainder of the Strikers unit, we also had volunteers from Kitan's group that were willing to help, as long as they escaped with us. We were willing to comply. We needed all the help we could get.

It took us almost three hours to get to the refinement facility and with that, we unloaded ourselves from the van, which was parked at least ten feet away from the facility's gate. We huddled together inside one van for a brief meeting.

Levi glanced at his watch. "5:47 am. Good, that's early enough. Come on, guys. Let's do what we came here for."

A voice sounding from outside the van, startled us. "You're not starting without me." We all simultaneously turned our gazes to the voice's direction. There stood Kel, with a smug look on her face. "Hey, guys."

★★★
What's Kel up to now?  Fingers crossed.
Xoxo
Jasmine