Page 20 of Shattered Vows

After saying a small prayer that the stairwell is empty, I tiptoe down as quietly and quickly as I’m able, still not hearing anything and not coming upon the source of the light. It’s almost as though it’s moving ahead of me and wants me to follow.

But I don’t have time for that. I need to find my way out of this place and away from Kol.

For a moment, I wonder where I’ll go, which is something I should worry about once I’m free.

I’ll go back to my mom and Alistair, of course. But I realize that I don’t want to go back to the same life I had. I want a whole new one. Kol kidnapping me has been a wake-up call.

No matter, the first step is getting away from here. I can figure out the rest later.

When I reach the bottom of the stairway and try to open the door, I almost expect it to be locked, but it opens easily as well. A rush of air leaves my lungs in relief when I step over the threshold. The massive hallway glows to my right. Farther down the hall, a warm ball of light floats in the air, almost like a floating lantern.

What is that thing?

It moves slowly down the hallway. I’m rooted to the spot like an animal trying to prevent detection.

I must be dreaming. There’s no earthly explanation for what my eyes are taking in.

The light stops as though it’s beckoning me to follow before starting down the hall again. I look at the doorway I just came from, then back at the glowing orb.

Could it be leading me out of here? That thought is fleeting when I’m at the far end of the hallway, and there’s no door to the outside. Mustering all my courage, I step in the direction of the light.

I silently follow it down the hall, past the transition into another part of the house through the stained-glass hallway. My gaze snags on the window depicting a lion resembling the one tattooed down Kol’s arm. After more twists and turns, leaving me thoroughly turned around, we finally reach a door that leads outside.

The light passes right through the door, and I blink, again trying to wrap my head around what is happening. But I need to move forward. There’s plenty of time to puzzle over what this means once I reach safety. I burst through the door, welcoming the crisp night air. Summer isn’t fully here yet, but in days or weeks, the blanket of ever-present humidity will cover this place.

The light continues to float over the grass, and since it freed me from the house, I’m trusting that it’s leading me to safety.

I trail it for a time unknown. Ten minutes, twenty, a half hour? By the time I come to the huge pond I could barely see from my tower, goose pebbles cover my skin, and my feet are cold from walking over the cool ground. It’s too dark to make much out, but a light glimmers on a post on the far side. But on the bank closest to me, a lone figure sits on the grass.

My entire body stiffens. I’d recognize that silhouette anywhere—Kol. Panic fires in my veins, and I turn to find the light, but it has vanished without a trace, as if it never existed.

No matter. I need to go in whatever direction Kol is not, so I backtrack a few tentative steps from the pond. After a few more breaths, I press my lips together, keeping my eyes on Kol. He hasn’t noticed me yet, so I still have time to sneak off the property.

But the invisible string that still tethers us together and I can’t seem to cut plants my feet in the cool grass.

Why is he out here in the middle of the night? What keeps him up so he can’t sleep? When we first met, he told me that he had trouble sleeping. When I asked him why, his only explanation was “the past.”

I stand, contemplating my fate.

Is what I’m running toward any better than what I’m running from? Probably in a lot of ways. It’s certainly better than being trapped in one room. But I still wasn’t free to live my life how I wished, and I was going from living under my mother’s rule to being the wife of a man who would run the household and still make all of my decisions.

What would my life look like if I were the one making the decisions? What can I be? Who would I become if I were given the freedom to blossom?

It’s those thoughts, along with the memory of the mystery man in that hospital, a man I’ve seen only a handful of times since he brought me here, that are the reason why I walk across the damp grass, not toward the gates of freedom, but toward Kol.

This could be a mistake, a very big mistake.

I sit beside him. He startles, suggesting he was so deep in thought, I could have escaped without him knowing. Then his eyes widen when he sees it’s me. “How the fuck did you get out of that room?”

“The door was unlocked when I woke up.” It’s a simple enough explanation. There’s no way I’m bringing up the light thing when I can’t explain it myself.

His face twists, looking just as confused as mine, before his gaze turns accusatory. “Why didn’t you hightail it out of here?”

“Had full intentions of doing just that until I saw you.”

He doesn’t say anything, and we stare into one another’s eyes for an uncomfortable length of time. But he’s not dragging me back to the tower, so I count it as a win.

Finally, I break the silence. “What are you doing out here?”

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