I will find you,I tell the voice.
So even though I know I won’t make it—I run.
My hair rushes back.My feet pound on the stone. Bitter cold air grips me.
Then, there’s an arm around my waist and I’m thrown against the wall. Tears stream down my cheek and I thrash against my Dread.
“The fuck makes you think this is a good idea,” he growls in my ear.
“Let me go,” I cry.
“Do you wish to die?” he asks me calmly, as if he expects my answer will be yes. Does he think I’ve given up?
“Some things are worse than death,” I mutter, as I resort to sobs against his shoulder.
When my sobs subside, I slump against the wall.
He loosens his grip on my stomach, but does not back away. One hand is against the stone above my head, as he leans over me. His masked face is inches from mine.
“Very true,” he says quietly. “Yet I don’t think you’ve thought this through. Running now will end with a horrific death. Whatever you think you’ll achieve is an impossibility.”
“I’m not going to give up like you have!” I yell, my voice carrying through the empty tunnel. Those lines of soldiers are not far away. Do they hear me? I can’t bring myself to care. “I can’t!”
He flinches, and immediately pulls aways from me. He shifts, turning his back to me.
“Do you think me a coward, then?” his voice is gruff.
My eyes widen but before I can find the words to respond he continues.
“Maybe I am a coward… but you are a fool.”
I cross my arms over my still heaving chest. “I can’t do nothing,” I say, voice breaking.
“Then don’t do nothing.” He turns back to me, his eyes harsher than I’ve seen. “But not this.” He points down the pitch black hall.
I blink, staring at the darkness ahead only just now realizing how dumb it is to think the hall right outside the sanctum will lead me anywhere good.
“That is not hope,” he says. “That is desperation.”
Soft clicking catches my attention. Rhythmic.
My heart throbs. Eyes wide as I realize they are foot steps.
The red-headed priestess steps from the shadows. “Something wrong?” she purrs, tapping her manicured finger against her red lip.
“She got scared,” my Dread says, eyes suddenly lifeless. His lids are half shut, like he couldn’t bother to keep them open fully. He stands straight.
“Is that right?” the beautiful woman purrs.
“The warriors were the other way,” I say, looking down at my feet, immediately playing the role I know is expected of me. “When we came, one of them threatened me and I was alone…”
The golden priestess smiles. “It is your job to keep her in line, Haze. Don’t make me punish you.”
My stomach twists. How does she make those words sound suggestive?
I want to fly at her, scrape at her face with my own unpolished nails. I know she would tear me apart if I tried.
It takes everything in me not to either attack or to crumple to the ground in sorrow. She knows something about Astella, and there is nothing I can do.
