Page 128 of Sohut's Protection

She would not.

Reaching underneath her dress, she took out her lucky piece of metal.

It was always tied there, in that spot by a ripped piece of fabric, just in case she lost it.

Turning the thing over in her hand, she glanced through the pink blossoms again.

She needed a plan and, if she was going to escape, she needed more weapons.

Today just happened to be the day luck might be on her side.

On the ground beside her, there were hardly any fallen branches, but she’d managed to find two thin ones…twigs almost—they would just have to do.

With another glance through the blossoms, Cleo got to work, filing down the twigs so they had sharp ends.

She was working for maybe thirty minutes, refining the edges when a sound caught her ear and she looked up. Lee-yunna stood there.

“Hey,” Lee-yunna said.

Cleo glanced at her, before continuing to work. “Hey.”

“What are you doing?” She could hear the surprise in the female’s voice and it made her shoulders stiffen.

What if the woman gave her non-plan away?

But when Lee-yunna walked over, she saw that it wasn’t surprise in her eyes.

It was excitement.

“Can I have one?” she lowered her voice to a whisper.

Cleo glanced at the female and back to the weapons.

She’d only have two wooden shivs and her metal blade. Not nearly enough if she was going to stab her way out of there but having an ally was probably even better.

A glance at the other females still huddled together made her press her lips into a thin line.

If they stood a chance, they’d all have to fight their way out. Each and every one of them.

“Why do you want one? I thought you were all doing this for your people.”

Lee-yunna’s eyes fell. “We are.”

Cleo studied the female and watched her shoulders slump.

“We are, but I don’t want to.” Lee-yunna met her gaze. “You said you were free before…what was that like?”

It was an unexpected question and Cleo studied the female some more.

“I was living in the wilderness doing my own thing. I got up when I wanted to, hunted when I wanted to, ate when I wanted to. I had fresh air. Fresh food. A nice place to lay my head. And someone…” Her voice broke and she took a moment before going back to sharpening the shivs once more.

“Someone what?” Lee-yunna pressed.

Cleo took a moment before answering. Meeting Lee-yunna’s gaze, she spoke. “Someone who loved me.”

Someone who loved her, and she wasn’t ready to let him go.

He was alive. She wouldn’t believe that he’d died that night and as long as she breathed, she was going to fight to be with him.

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