Page 44 of Bad Bunny
A butterfly drifts past my face, its wings slow and lazy in the heavy air.
Another settles on the back of my hand. So light I only know it’s there because I can see.
Alive.
Delicate.
Temporary.
It opens and closes its wings once, twice, the fragile motion stirring the air against my skin. A creature that exists only to be beautiful for a brief moment before it’s gone. My heart twinges at the thought. The truth that sometimes beauty is only supposed to last a moment. That it can be captured in your hand but not held for a lifetime.
Behind me, Nora exhales, the tension bleeding from her body in a long rush.
“We’re safe?” she whispers.
“For now.” I wince, wishing my answer were different. That I could assure her she’d never have to know fear or pain again.
Her relief hits me through the bond, soft and bright. A loosening. A quiet awed joy at survival.
She saved us.
Not with strength.
Not with violence.
But with courage. Instinct. A willingness to leap into the unknown when I would have hesitated.
I was meant to protect her.
Instead, she carried me in a canvas bag and delivered us both from death.
My hands clench.
Tomorrow, I will face the egg, the hunters, and then my uncle. I will prove to her that I am not merely something to be hidden away when the danger grows too great.
That I am worthy of the bond we now share.
For now, I will feed her.
As if it heard me, her stomach gives a low, revealing grumble, and she slaps a hand over it. I pull her close and kiss her forehead, a little in awe that she lets me. Even more so when she smiles up at me, open and tender.
“Stay here,” I murmur. “I’ll find us something to eat.”
“Where?” She giggles, glancing around. “It’s not like there’s a McDonald’s nearby.”
I lift my nose and sniff. “There’s food all around, if you know how to find it.”
She heads deeper into the sanctuary while I step out into the cool April night. Extending my senses, I search for any trace of the hunters.
Nothing.
Not even a whisper.
They’re too far away, which is precisely what I want.
Even Nora had agreed it was clever to hide in the botanical gardens, so close to our target for tomorrow. The hunters will assume we’d run the other direction, that we wouldn’t return here until morning.
By already being on the grounds, we may yet reach the egg before they do.
