Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
I watched them leave, but at the last second, Amber turned her head ever so slightly, mouthing, “Better for you.”
I sucked in a ragged breath. I couldn’t stay, not for another moment. Without looking at their creation in the mirror, fully aware I wouldn’t recognize the woman staring back at me, I fled. I ran so fast in heels that shot fire through the soles of my feet until I was finally outside, bursting through the tree line into the woods.
I couldn’t tell you what my dress looked like. I couldn’t even tell you what color it was. It didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t me, and I’d be damned if I was going to act like it was.
Once I reached taller grass, I hiked up my gown, threw off my heels, and hauled ass until my feet were on fire for a whole other reason. Sharp rocks sliced into my skin as twigs snapped beneath my feet. Branches clawed at my arms as if they were trying to pull me back in. I ran until I couldn’t feel the house breathing down my neck, the demons desperately yanking me back into their sanctuary.
“Don’t speak unless spoken to…”
It repeated in my head while I ran with the certainty of trying to get as far as I could from that party. Just as I was about to run farther into the darkness, I found a tree that called to me and climbed it. My dress snagged on every branch, lace tearing at the seams. The higher I climbed, the more the estate disappeared beneath me.
Minutes, hours, days could’ve flown by at the speed I was scaling those branches. I wouldn’t stop until I was sure no one could find me. Branches whipped against my face every time the wind shifted, and the higher I climbed, the thinner they became, but I didn’t stop until the trunk was barely wide enough to wrap my arms around it.
Finally, I thought I was alone.
My dress hung in shredded ribbons from every splinter I dragged it across while blood slid down my legs. Below me, the forest stretched into an endless sea of black, swallowing every path that might lead back to that cursed estate.
Back to them.
I rested my forehead against the rough bark, whispering to the tree, “Don’t let them find me.”
The leaves answered with a soft rustle, reassuring me with a yes I chose to believe. For a while, time no longer existed as I witnessed the moon climbing over the horizon. The insects and birds grew louder, claiming their territory.
I apologized to them. “I’m so sorry for invading. It was either them or me.”
I heard a crow accept my apology, making me relax. My breathing slowed enough that I could hear my own heartbeat instead of the night that awaited me. Closing my eyes, I felt the comfort and peace of the forest regulating my nervous system.
Then… voices.
So. Many. Voices.
“She couldn’t have gotten far!”
“Check the creek!”
“Spread out!”
“We need to find her! Now!”
Branches cracked around me, leaves crunching everywhere their feet stepped. It was their bright lantern lights, flickering through the trees like wandering ghosts, that made me lock up. Every single one of my muscles tensed. I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe.
I didn’t exist.
“If she made it this far, she’s exhausted! We’ll find her!”
“She won’t survive the night if we don’t find her!”
“Don’t worry! We’ll bring her back before sunrise!”
Bring me back?
I didn’t recognize any of the voices. My uncle wasn’t part of the search party and a sadness I wasn’t expecting settled through me. If my uncle ordered people to find me, it meant I wasn’t just running from one man. It was the entire Academy. Maybe even the whole damn town.
My pulse violently hammered against my ribs. I was certain they could all hear it. Every beat felt like it was betraying me as it echoed through the woods. I thought about the power my uncle held. If he had men willing to search for me, that just meant he had men willing to die for him.
Loyal men. The kind that didn’t ask questions and simply followed orders. That was the scariest thought among all the ones I was drowning in.
What did my family get me into?
My stomach lurched, and I bit my hand so hard I tasted blood just to keep from making a sound. The search party drifted farther away, their voices growing quieter until all I heard were echoes through the wind that were swallowed up through the trees.
Except it didn’t give me relief. One set of footsteps remained. They were slow and unrushed, each step more precise than the last. Every crunch under his boots sounded deliberate.
He wasn’t searching. He was following.
As soon as the footsteps stopped, silence settled again. This time, it wasn’t from the peacefulness of the woods. It was from the hunt. I was being hunted, and that realization alone was enough to cause my lungs to burn. I needed to breathe more than I was, but I wouldn’t let them find me.