Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
The freedom I now took away from her once again.
If anyone deserves to be punished, it should be me.
I get up from the rock and say, “Stay. Sleep. I’ll keep watch.”
I need some time for myself to do something I’ve never done before.
Gather my thoughts.
April
When I wake up, I could’ve sworn I only fell asleep for a couple of minutes. Still, the sunlight is shining brightly, which means at least a couple of hours must’ve passed. I must’ve been tired to the bone from all that fighting with those guys from the car.
I shiver, just thinking about what they were trying to do to me.
But then I remember what Soren did to them when he found out, and that almost makes my eyes pop out of my head.
It never fails to surprise me just how hard-core he is.
But I can’t let my guard down. Not anymore.
Our fling ended the second I realized where he was taking me, and I’m not about to sweeten up to him just because he saved me.
When I look up to find him, he’s still standing there by the tree where I remember he stood before I fell asleep. With his bag over his shoulder, he stares at me with a sour look on his face.
“You’re awake.”
I sigh out loud and get up, bringing the blanket to him. He accepts it without saying a word and tucks it into his bag.
“Let’s go.”
I follow him without saying a word.
There’s nothing left to be said.
Nothing I tell him will make him change his mind.
If I run, he’ll catch me. If I fight, he’ll win.
There’s nowhere to go, nothing for me to do except admit defeat.
But I would rather die than admit I ever liked this man.
Whatever there was growing between us … it’s gone.
His betrayal shattered it to pieces.
We walk and walk for hours on end, with only a few berries we plucked from the bushes to eat. But I’ve gotten used to feeling hungry and thirsty. It’s the only thing that reminds me of the fact that I’m still alive. That even though I lost, I am still not giving up. And that means something. It has to, goddammit.
We push over a hill, and I pause to clutch my knees and breathe in and out a little. These damp forests we’re in right now are not at all like the ones we left behind, and they really remind us of home.
“We’re almost there.” Soren stands on top of the edge of the cliff beyond the forest’s edge, peering out at whatever’s underneath. The Holy Land, I’m sure, where they’ll be waiting for me in those horrible white robes, clambering to put them on me and make me yield to their customs again. But I will fight any man who dares to come near me with tooth and nail.
“Coming,” I mutter as he glares at me from the top.
I raise my head and take in another deep breath before I take more steps and go to the top of the hill to stand alongside him. The sun is shining so brightly straight at us that I can barely see a thing, so I put my hand on my forehead to look ahead.
And my jaw almost drops to the floor, along with my knees.
Because what’s in front of me is not the cult grounds.
It’s my hometown.
Chapter 37
Soren
I can hear her breath falter as she freezes in place.
And I cannot stop watching her face as tears form in her eyes.
Her knees buck, but they don’t collapse as she steps forward, drunk on hope.
It is a picture I plaster in my head so I’ll never forget.
Her black hair floats in the wind as she steps toward the town in front of us, her feet skittish as though they’re not sure if the grass underneath is safe. If it’s real.
But it’s as real as she is to me.
As real as the cult grounds she was kept at not too far from here.
How long has it been since she last saw this place?
I swallow and follow her down the hill as she grows more courageous with every step. Watching her is like watching a flower bloom. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. That smile that grows on her face as she approaches the bustling road.
Halfway down, she stops and glances over her shoulder at me.
The fiery flame growing in her eyes is impossible to ignore, and it humbles me to the point that I don’t know what to say. Because I know what this look says. I know what she’s asking.
Am I allowed?
But I don’t have the answer for her.
All I have is a choice.
And I made mine the second she told me she hated me.
So I give her one big nod. Not to give permission, but to give her courage, and she turns around and walks onto the busy road. She crosses the street, and I follow along, watching her smile at the people she walks by. She doesn’t enter any store or building, doesn’t speak with anyone except those who greet her.