Chapter 46 - Simple pleasure

They travelled all day, keeping a pace Maddie could maintain and only stopping for breaks every few hours. By the time dusk fell, she was exhausted. Her legs were burning, her chest was aching, but she refused to be the one to stop them. She knew she was the weak link on their team, weaker than all the other contestants. Michael could make the trip back to Silver Moon far faster without her, but he chose to stay in their pair and reminded her that her knowledge of the ports and the Silver Moon territory would be more valuable than a slightly quicker pace. Though she was determined to make that true, she was also determined to not slow him down.

As the sun faded, taking the light of the day with it, Michael called for them to stop for the night. She had felt his eyes on her for the past half hour but kept forcing herself to keep pushing, but she could no longer hide the toll of the day. Her pants were ragged, and she knew their speed had slowed. Relief flooded her when they finally c