Page 40 of Her Dark Promise

“Bast is gone. If you leave, I’ll be all alone.”

He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, squeezing his eyes together. Then looked back into her wide eyes, eyes that had yet to understand the horrors of the world she was bred into.

How I envied her naivete.

Though she was about to learn about those horrors if her father got his wish. It was just another reason to detest that vile human. They were all the same, or maybe not. So far, the hunter had proven himself to be a better human than I had met so far. And I had met quite a few over the years.

I focused back on the siblings as he was finishing his goodbye.

“Be strong. Everything will be alright, Jo. I love you.” He left without another glance back.

I followed him out of the house. Disappointment ran through me as I realized the sun had just set and I missed it. I hated to admit it, but I missed the sun. I pushed past the feeling of displeasure and continued to follow him down the street and into the woods. His steps were hurried and he didn’t falter as if he knew exactly where he was going. As if he had walked this path before, many times.

I took a chance to look around because I realized that it was my first time being outside the barriers of my land. Yes, I had been outside in Bastian’s mind, but I didn’t think about it until now, didn’t take the time to bask in how it felt. This was my firsttime feeling free of the constraints of my curse. I looked over to him as he started talking to himself.

“She has to be here. I don’t know what I will do if she isn’t. But if she isn’t then hopefully someone else will be able to help me.” He took a breath and then rolled his eyes. “And where the fuck did Bast go? What if he got himself killed after he stormed out of the house?” He paused and seemed to ponder what he said, then shook his head. “Oh, he’s not dead, certainly the world would quake once the great Bastian perishes and all father’s hopes and dreams for the family die with him.”

Interesting… Did they not get along?

He kept trudging along, and after a while, I sped up the memory to right before he got to the castle.

I could tell that it was getting closer to morning as the sky had slightly lightened.

He paused right at the gates, just like his brother, took a breath to gather his courage, and then took a step over it. He walked up the dirt pathway, past the trees, over the stone bridge, and stopped walking when he was in the middle of the rose garden right in front of the stone steps.

He wasn’t there long before I saw Callum silently walking up behind him, placing his blade into his side, and said in a lethal voice, “State your business.”

The boy straightened. “I am here to see the woman with dark brown wavy hair, and she was standing next to an older woman. Are either one of them here? I need to—”

Callum hit him in the side of the head with the blunt end of the blade, and the boy fell to the side. “What do you want with her grace?”

He groaned from the pain. “I told you, I just want to speak to her.”

Callum had tried to get answers from him and punched him a few times to make a point, but the boy didn’t fight back once.Interesting. The boy kept reiterating that he would only speak to the dark-haired woman. Me.

I exited his memories because I knew the rest.

“Let him go.”

“But—”

“I said ‘let him go’.” I narrowed my eyes at Callum and dared him to defy an order. He dropped the boy immediately.

“What was that? Why do I feel lightheaded? My body heavy?”

I ignored his questions and commanded, “Tell me your name.”

“Soren Corleone and I came with no one. I am here to ask, no, tobegfor your assistance.” He flinched at the pain in his head and body after I assaulted his mind.

I squatted in front of him, an elbow resting on my knee, chin on my palm as I drummed my other hand against my arm. I tilted my head. “I already saw what happened in your brother’s mind. I know that your father has condemned your baby sister to be sacrificed to the beast.”

His eyes blinked with recognition. “Bast is here?”

“Is that the only thing you took out of what I just said?”

“Wait.” I could see that everything I was saying overwhelmed him, and I wasn’t giving him a chance to process anything. “Saw everything? Were you there?”

“Nevermind that. If I allow you to survive, then we can go into specifics. But, for now, you came to ask me to save your sister from dying, did you not?”

---