Page 48 of Run of Ruin

I wanted to kiss her.

But I didn’t.

Couldn’t.

Shouldn’t.

I shook my head, trying to shove the thought away, the desire curling under my skin like fire.

“So,” I said, voice rougher than I meant it to be, “how’d you get so good at reading people?”

She shifted, gaze falling to the trees beyond.

“It’s not a fun story,” she warned.

“I don’t mind,” I replied.

“When we were kids,” she said, voice distant, “Thorne and I were almost taken.”

The breath caught in my throat. “Taken?”

“There was a man in our Collective. He was… well, he was stealing children. Killing them. Dumping their bodies in the woods.”

The air around us changed. Went still.

“He murdered ten kids in three months.”

“Oh my god,” I whispered.

“Ma and Pa warned us. Said don’t trust anyone. Don’t walk home alone. Don’t stray from the path. All the usual stuff.”

I nodded. My stomach felt cold.

“There was this old man who lived just past the woods,” she went on. “We used to bring him small game, squirrels, rabbits. He’d give us coins. He was kind. Sweet. He’d smile at us. Told jokes. He remembered our birthdays.”

She paused. Swallowed hard.

“We were there every day that summer. Laughing, joking. And the whole time, he was out there, taking kids.”

I reached out, found her hand, and held it.

“He tried to take us one day,” she said, voice barely above a breath. “But he’d never taken two at once before. Might be why he waited so long to try. We never went alone. We fought. We got away. We ran.”

She didn’t look at me, just stared ahead, like she could still see the moment unfolding in front of her.

“He got caught. Sentenced to death.”

She was trembling.

I slid closer and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her in.

“I saw him every single day,” she whispered, breaking. “Ismiled at him. Laughed at his dumb jokes. And I never saw it. I never saw it. Ten kids died. Because I never even looked close enough.”

“No,” I said, firmly. “Briar. You were a kid. That wasn’t your fault.”

She shook her head. “He fooled me. He fooled everyone.”

“You’re the one who got away. Who turned him in. You saved lives.”

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