The burst of happiness and warmth at knowing they’d fallen for me, just as I had for them, was then swallowed up by a gnawing emptiness.
“I suppose we let him decide,” Briar said. “It’s all we can do.”
“And if he can’t choose between us?”
The question hung in the air. Neither man had an answer. Maddox glowered at the ground while Briar cast his gaze upward. The tree branches lightly creaked as a cool wind swept through them.
Tears burned in my eyes as I finally uprooted my feet from the grass and fled the area. I had known this was coming. How silly of me to think they’d be okay with sharing me. It was selfish to even consider it. I ran away from the knights’ quarters and toward… I wasn’t sure. I didn’t really have a destination in mind.
I just needed to get away. To clear my head. To put distance between me and the men whose feelings I’d inadvertently toyed with.
I’m a horrible person.Maybe it would be best if I took Lupin up on his offer, reversed my wish, and returned to my own world. Since I was, clearly, only making people miserable in this one.
A small cry crawled up my throat, and the tears welling in my eyes finally slipped free, one after the other. I hastily wiped at them and kept running. The path widened into a circular courtyard with tall castle walls stretching in front of me.
The front gate?
The guards turned to me, somewhat alarmed. They were there to prevent unauthorized entry into the castle grounds. But what about someone trying to leave them?
“Let him pass,” one guard told the other. “Prince Sawyer’s orders.”
Before I could think twice about it, I passed through the gate and headed down the cobblestone road away from the castle.
Night had fully fallen on Bremloc, and thin clouds wisped in front of the moon, blocking some of its light. In the distance, houses were scattered throughout the kingdom, some closer together and others more secluded, visible only by the lanterns glowing from their windows. The marketplace was beyond the hill, too far to see. I didn’t want to go there anyway. The last thing I wanted was to be around people.
For someone who hated running, I was sure doing a lot of it. But my feet refused to stop. My boots thudded against the road before I spotted men on horseback up ahead, probably another unit of knights returning from patrol. I dashed off the road and headed toward a section of woods to the right, not stopping as I burst through the tree line and into the darkness of the forest.
The toe of one boot caught on a fallen branch, and I tripped, crashing to the ground. Hands scraped and stinging from how I’d caught myself during the hard landing, I got back up and wiped them on my pants before continuing on, weaving through the trees.
I ran until I couldn’t run anymore.
With my energy waning, I slowed my pace and fought for a breath. My lungs burned, and my limbs felt heavier. Sluggish. Thorn bushes snagged at my tunic, and vines seemed to come alive. Shadows stirred. Nocturnal creatures called amongst the darkness: insects, owls, and god knows what else.
Wait. What the hell am I doing?
As sense slammed back into me, I spun around to leave the woods and return to the castle. Problem was… I couldn’t remember which direction I’d come from. Everything looked the same, just an endless stretch of trees and darkness.
The night air held a bit of a chill, and as I inhaled, that chill seeped into my bones. Or maybe it was the sudden awareness of just how alone I was that brought on the chill. Alone and in the woods. At night.
I wiped at my eyes again and tried to retrace my steps. Not that I could see much in the dark. I walked in the direction I thought I had come from, but after what felt like hours and never reaching the tree line, I knew it was the wrong way. Panic set in.
I sprung forward, tearing my way down a different path. More thorns snagged at me, ripping my tunic and cutting my soft flesh beneath.
Stop freaking out and think.
Stopping in place, I surveyed the treetops, as if that would somehow help. Maybe if I was an adventurer from one of my books, I’d know a trick to finding my way out. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t. I was more like the person who got eaten five minutes into the quest.
“Great job, Evan,” I muttered. “Way to be dramatic and get yourself lost.”
Was I talking to myself to trick my mind into thinking I wasn’t alone? Probably. Was it working?
Definitely not.
As a twig snapped not far from me, I squeaked and ducked down, hiding behind the nearest bush. A horrifying thought then sunk in. The dark wood filled with demons and monsters was farther away from the castle… but how far did it stretch? I could’ve easily stumbled my way right into it.
Maybe the thing that had snapped the twig was a Fenrir demon. Or one of the reptilian monsters Callum mentioned with venom that paralyzed its target before they ate you alive.
Damn you, Callum. You’re an evil cinnamon roll.
