Page 82 of Tangled Hearts

Gray and Ryder chuckled while Max and I looked confused.

“It’s a movie,” Gray said, like that was the answer, but I still didn’t get it.

“Never mind, Blondie, we will just have to have a Lord of the Rings marathon when we get done with this,” Soren said, kissing my temple. “I’ll make sure to make a list of all the most important movies to catch you up on.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said, excited for whatever I would be able to experience with these guys.

The door swung open showing us a long corridor. Max’s uneasiness immediately put me on edge.

“Max?” I walked up to him, putting my hand on his back as he stared ahead.

“There should be guards here,” he murmured, looking defeated.

“Maybe they are on break?” Ryder said, looking inside.

“I don’t think so, but let's go find out,” Max said, grabbing my hand. We walked through the magical door and once we all went through, it shut behind us, leaving us with light only coming from the end of the hallway.

My body tingled with magic as we walked further and it felt like home. The corridor was musty, and it didn’t seem like it had been in use for a while. My heart sank in my stomach the closer we got to the open space.

It was like we had been transported to another world. We walked out into a lush forest. Max stopped looking around which made him furrow his brows more. Something was not right.

“Keep your eyes open,” Max said. “I don’t know what we will run into, but I don’t think the Fae are here anymore.”

My heart sank. I clenched my jaw to keep the tears at bay. We knew it would be a miracle if the Fae were still here, but I still held out hope that maybe I would find my family. A warm hand rested on the middle of my back, giving me comfort.

I didn’t know how long we had walked, but when we arrived at the city, my legs were hurting and so were my feet. There was no sign of anyone here. The streets were empty, and every building had dust accumulating on every surface.

Max was getting angrier and angrier the more we walked. Ryder carried me on his back when he noticed me slowing down, apologizing that they didn’t think to carry me. The more we walked the harder it was to keep my tears at bay until I cried into Ryder's neck.

He set me down, kissing my tears before picking me back up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his torso, burrowing my face into his neck to cry in silence, attempting to keep my heartbreak away from Max.

“Max!” Gray yelled.

A crash made me flinch as I looked over my shoulder. Max punched a column over and over again. His sadness hit me like a boulder making me cry harder.

“He’s going to hurt himself,” Soren said, walking over to him.

“Soren, let him get it out,” Gray said, following his twin.

I couldn’t look at Max without sobbing again, so I looked around, wondering what had happened. The city was enormous, and it was like a ghost town. Everything was old, dusty and overgrown with grass and weeds.

“Max!” one of the twins yelled.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw Max hitting the column with bloody hands.

“Put me down, please,” I said to Ryder, pushing him when he didn’t put me down right away.

“Heaven, he’s hurting, he might hurt you unintentionally,” he said, holding on to me.

“Ryder, he would never hurt me,” I snapped. “Put me down, please.”

He hesitated before letting me down. I ran to Max, dodging one of the twins who tried to hold me back, but when I saw Max’s tears, I knew I needed to go to him.

“Max,” I said, getting close to him.

He didn’t even look at me, lost in his anger when I touched his shoulder. I expected his wrath, but when he looked at me, all I saw was a man in pain.

“Sol,” he whispered, the tears in his eyes making his normally bright eyes look stormy.

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