Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 169: Sleep it Off

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Nine: Sleep it Off

His head was going to explode.

He was sure of it.

It hurt like living fucking hell.

After waking up around noon, Xaphile had barely been able to get out of bed, let alone help everyone pack up and get ready to go, and the same held true for Ella. His eyes had almost been plastered shut, tired and hurting as he was, and his tongue was numb and totally dry.

He was grateful once they were on the road again since it meant he could go back to sleep.

And sleep, he did: for several hours, he was completely out of it, waking up off and on to the sensation of Skitsy swaying beneath him and Ella resting against his chest. 

Eventually, however, he couldn't fall back asleep.

Which left him to his misery. 

Xaphile let out a small groan for the hundredth time since they'd gotten on the road, cheek pillowed on the top of Ella's soft hair as they swayed from side to side. None of the others complained, however, since most of them were in similarly bad shape.

They'd made their way out of the mountains at some point and already had begun crossing the plains where Amelia had been chasing rabbits so long ago. The memory made him realize how far they'd come with their relationships since the last time he'd been here.

Behind him and Ella, the Sysh brothers trudged along beside the cart, speaking quietly with Ninira and Bruno, and ahead of them, Gus was looking at the scenery with the two prisoners lying tied across the back of his saddle in a very uncomfortable-looking position.

They both had cloths tied over their mouths to prevent them from talking, and they looked like they were in a mild amount of pain, but Xaphile resigned himself to ignoring that since they were, at present, still enemies who wanted to do great harm to them.

Ella shifted, breathing softly, and he sighed, cuddling her again.

The events of last night still lingered in his mind.

The intensity of the moment, the way she'd finally broken down, her words, the feel of her.

For the first time, he was contemplating what to do.

Really what to do.

Knowing that he needed to truly think about the future made his current headache worse, but lying to himself about things wasn't going to make things any easier, period. If they kept up on this spiraling game of hot and cold, someone was eventually going to get hurt.

He closed his eyes, letting himself drift off for a little while.

He would come to a decision eventually.

Ready or not, he wouldn't be a coward anymore.

He just needed to figure out what, exactly, he was going to do.

Resigned, he fell asleep again, and time passed in a blur after that. 

There was no reason for them to stop, so the trek was endlessly undisturbed, save for a single moment when he was woken up to eat a loaf of bread. He cast a glance backwards and found that three of the Sysh brothers had taken to sitting on the cart with Adariel, Windal, and Faeble.