Page 112 of Her Dark Promise

“Stop!” I ordered.

They stopped digging and turned to me. I couldn’t see their facial expressions from where they were, but I could see one of them drop the shovel and run toward me.

A head of bright blonde hair. The scholar.

He took the steps two at a time as he stood an inch before me, looking me over. “You shouldn’t be up. I just finished your sutures.” He looked toward my abdomen and went to touch it when I smacked his hand away. “Your wound reopened. I need to stitch you again. You’ve lost too much blood.”

“Enough.” I observed him more closely, the swelling of his cheek. I reached for him, touched the skin, and looked behind him at Bastian. He stood behind his brother, his head low. Raged filled me.

“I’m fine,” said Soren, in a sudden panic. “You know how many times Bast has punched me?”

“Shut up,” I spat, taking him by the chin, tears filling my eyes. I urged them to stay within my eyelids. “I told you not to move…to stay put. You never listen.”

“Perhaps I could still use some lessons on obedience? Should you still like to teach me?” I couldn’t smile, my body hurt too much. I pulled his chin forward, pressed my forehead to his, and rested there a moment. A silent thank you. Then, the fleeting moment escaped us when I heard the shuffling of dirt again.

“Did I give you permission to bury that monster on my lands?”

Bastian sucked in a breath. “No, but—”

I raised my hand, silencing him.

“You’re a coward. You couldn’t even muster up the strength to kill me when that’s all you have talked about day in and day out.”

“I am sorry.” His eyes stayed low.

“You still can’t look at me!”

He flinched.

I gathered enough energy to slap him. My hand stung from the contact and I fell forward, slamming into his body. His arms wrapped around me. I hated that my skin still heated under the contact, it felt like my body betrayed me as I wanted more than anything for him to say that it was all a bad dream.

I pushed off him and fell to the ground. “I never want to see you again. You were going to let me die.” My voice broke.

Bastian finally looked at me with a pained expression. “You stopped a monster, but this monster…” I pointed to my chest. “...this monster meant nothing to you. I wasn’t enough.” A sob broke through me, tearing my soul apart. “I. Wasn’t. Enough.”

He shook his head and tried to reach out to me, but thought better of it. “You don’t understand—”

“Stop,” I shouted, lifting my hands up. “Your father is dead. The head of the council is dead. Go back home and make it right. Rid the town of the Reaping. Fuck and marry whomever you wish. I don’tcare.” Those last three words caught in my throat.

I told you to trust no one and look where it got you again.

I was so broken that I started hysterically laughing until the pain brought me back to the present.

“I want you gone by the time I wake tomorrow.” I could feel the pull of sleep calling to me. My head felt light, and knew it must be the blood loss.

“I am not leaving.”

“Then I will kill you,” I seethed. I needed to hurry; my mind was slipping away. I looked at their father, rolled up tightly in cloth. “Take that body with you. Or else I will leave him in the woods for the animals to devour.” My vision started to blur and I could feel my body drifting down to the ground until someone caught me just in time. I was weightless in someone’s arms, drifting back inside.

“Her fever is back. Shit.” I heard the sound of rustling and my nightgown ripping and then pain. Soren must be sewing my body back together. My mind wandered as he gave commands to various people in the room.

Then, I could hear quiet sobs.

Emilia? Her voice brought me back to reality, and I tried my best to open my eyes and see her pained expression above me. She was sitting on the bed, crying.

Oh, Emilia.

I tried to talk, but it hurt. My throat was so scratchy. She leaned over to the small table and raised a rag above me, dripping some water into my mouth.

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