Father.
“We tried to reason with her,” he says. “Believe me, I tried. All she had to do was come back with me. We’d pick you up, then return to Grace’s Fall peacefully. As a family.”
Father shakes his head, looking over at my mother’s body, then back at me.
“Even if she needed to be persuaded further and I had to use some more forceful methods to bring her around, I still didn’t want this. But she had to go and fight me. She wasn’t fucking around, either. She meant to kill me.”
I wish she had!
Father shrugs. “It’s regrettable. But at least we found you, and you can get a little closure before we leave. Take a good look. It’s the last you’ll ever see of her.”
“But… what about burying her?” I sputter. “A funeral—”
“She doesn’t deserve one!” Father hisses, yanking on my hair again. “She stays here, in the forest, where the wild animals can take her. I want you to remember this and let it be a lesson to you about escaping! I’ll do the same for you without hesitation. You hear me?”
“Yes,” I moan softly. “I hear you. Please don’t, Father.”
“So long as you’re good, I won’t have to do anything like this,” he mutters. “Like I said, I didn’t want this. I wanted a real family.”
With his grip on my hair, it’s hard to breathe, and with all my crying and screaming, my throat feels shredded. I’m too scared to move, though, in case he decides it’s an attempt to escape and punishes me.
“There you are, old friend,” a new voice speaks jovially from the forest. “What have you got for me?”
No, no… please, God, no!
“Your bride, as promised,” Father says, smiling. “Come and claim her.”
As Vince walks up behind Father, a sick shudder runs through me. It’s so powerful, I almost vomit, but it gets stuck in my throat as Father yanks on my hair again.
That’s why I cut it… I remember now.
Vince leers down at me, his pale blue eyes cold and full of malice. He looks me up and down so slowly that it leaves me feeling dirty.
“I like you on your knees, princess,” Vince says. “For so many reasons.”
The terror and denial inside me collide, and I scream at the top of my lungs, twisting desperately to get out of Father’s grip. To my astonishment, I feel his fingers loosen, and I’m able to stumble to my feet and run.
As I bolt through the forest, the trees begin to blur around me, and the shadows bleed together until I’m running through a shadowy tunnel. The light at the end is very dim and gray, but I race towards it as if it’s the fabled bright light.
Safety, comfort, redemption… do I deserve any of these things?
The tunnel ends abruptly, and I stagger to a stop, looking wildly around at my new location. It’s a nicely furnished bedroom, with a huge bed dominating the center of the room.
It’s Kit’s bedroom.
No… no!
“Lexa,” Kit’s voice is soft, gentle, and soothing. “You came.”
“No,” I whisper, looking up to see him walking towards me from the other side of the bed. “I can’t be here.”
“But you are here,” he says, holding out his arms. “Stay here. With me.”
I shake my head violently, tears pouring down my cheeks. The sensation of being trapped between fear and shame fills my guts and pushes all the air out of my lungs.
“Lexa,” Kit says, coming over to put his hands on my shoulders. “I’d never hurt you.”
“But you did hurt me!” I scream at him. I thrash back and forth, trying to break his grip.
