Chapter 33: The Hidden Spring (1)
She could barely stand on her own two feet right now, let alone handle his big ding dong.
"I’m sorry if my hands feel rough," he said softly near her ear. The deep sound of his voice only made her ears grow hotter.
"I know it might not feel very comfortable, but..." His hand gently rubbed her back through the warmth of the blanket. "This is the only way I can share my body heat with you."
Maeve nearly choked. Comfortable?
The problem was that it was too comfortable.
His warm hand, his steady heartbeat, and the way he held her so carefully were making it very difficult for her to think straight, damn it!
Seriously, this was unfair, and it seemed Ikarus wasn’t doing much better.
The look in his eyes was growing harder and harder to hide. It was almost as if he was struggling to stop himself from pulling her even closer. His hand had already begun to drift slowly along her side instead of staying properly on her back.
"Ikarus!"
Cerus’ sudden shout made him jump, as if he had just been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. He immediately pulled his hand out of Maeve’s clothes.
"Did you forget to bring more water for her?!" Cerus asked. "I only found one water jug here!"
Cerus raised the water jug in the air, and that immediately made Ikarus smack his own forehead. He even looked nervous because he had forgotten one of the most important things for Maeve.
"I forgot about that!" he shouted. "It’s just... we rarely drink water, so I forgot we needed to bring more for—" He stopped himself and shook his head. "No. That’s not an excuse. This is my fault."
He turned his face away, feeling incredibly guilty that he had been distracted by dirty thoughts about his mate.
"It’ll be difficult to find another water source along this path," Ikarus said. "Maybe we should return to the mating cave near the Heart of the Forest and collect more water from there."
Maeve rested her head against his shoulder because she was too tired to worry about it herself. As she leaned against him, her gaze drifted over his shoulder, and only then did she realize just how far they had traveled from the Heart of the Forest.
Yeah... Ikarus had definitely remembered the location of the Heart Tomb wrong because there was no way it was that close to the Heart of the Forest. Otherwise, they would have found it hours ago.
"It’ll waste too much time if we go back," Axan said as he returned carrying several dry branches in his arms. "Maybe I should be the one to go. The rest of you can continue moving forward."
"Maybe I can do it faster," Cerus immediately offered.
As the triplets began discussing who should return for water, Maeve quietly pulled out the maps she had hidden between her breasts. She wrapped her arms around Ikarus’ neck for support before unfolding the maps behind him.
Her eyes lazily scanned the maps, trying to find a symbol that looked like water, but unfortunately she couldn’t find one. The only nearby symbol was something that looked like a seed split down the middle.
Before she could think any further, Pinky suddenly landed on her shoulder.
[Host! Host! That split-seed symbol is a spring!] Pinky said excitedly.
Maeve blinked. [A spring?]
[Yep!]
Pinky puffed up proudly. [The color is a little faded, which means the spring is starting to dry up. But it’s still much better than the other springs that have completely dried up!]
Maeve frowned and twitched the corner of her eye because she truly didn’t understand what a split seed had to do with a spring.
[Oh, Host! You just don’t understand proverbs very well!] Pinky said while puffing up its round body.
Maeve let out a soft sigh. [Then explain it.]
[A split seed represents the beginning of life!] Pinky declared proudly. [And water is also the beginning of life because every living thing needs it to survive!]
Maeve fell silent. To be honest, she still thought the symbol looked strange, but at least now it made a little more sense.
"I think there’s an almost dry spring nearby," Maeve finally said in a low voice, making everyone turn their heads toward her.
Even after spending more than a week in the settlement, Maeve still wasn’t used to having all of their eyes on her at the same time. It always made her feel a little self-conscious.
"Did you find it with that magical thingy?" Cerus asked curiously. Without waiting for an answer, he walked over and leaned closer to peek at the map in her hands.
Maeve nodded slowly. "Yeah."
Then she lifted her head from Ikarus’ shoulder and looked around the dry forest before turning her attention back to the map. Her finger traced the faded markings for a moment before she pointed toward a direction in the distance.
"It should be somewhere over there," she said. "At least, that’s what the map says."
All of them looked in the direction Maeve was pointing.
A moment later, Axan finally spoke. "You two can go to the spring with Maeve," he said. "I’ll prepare our resting place here."
Cerus immediately turned toward him. "Oh? Are you sure about that?" he asked. "It’s going to be really dark out here."
His tone sounded concerned at first, but the playful smile tugging at the corner of his lips quickly gave him away. He wasn’t worried at all, he was clearly teasing his brother.
"You’re not scared, are you?" he asked with a grin.
Axan clicked his tongue and picked up a small pebble from the ground before tossing it straight at Cerus.
"Go away," he said without hesitation. "I’ve had enough of looking at your face all day."
"It’s not like we have different faces," Cerus muttered to himself, but Axan could still hear him clearly.
Before Axan could throw another pebble, Cerus had already run behind Ikarus.
Maeve had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. Meanwhile, Ikarus simply shook his head, clearly used to their behavior by now.
Then he looked at Axan and said, "If something happens, just send the colored smoke into the sky, alright?"
"Alright," Axan replied with a nod. "You do the same."
