Page 36 of Bound By Darkness

A low hiss swept through the camp as I prepared for death… but it did not find me. Instead, the arrow struck to my right as a man crumpled to the ground. All eyes shifted to the male, the arrow striking between his bushy brows. A makeshift knife rested in his hands, now covered in a thick layer of red.

The dumb bastard, but it was the cover I needed as I shoved the pouch of water resting on my tray under the table, working it underneath the hem of my pants.

Thank the heavens for tunics and Thalia’s stealing.

I’d witnessed it enough to reap its advantages, but I’d never tell her lest she steal something significant.

It had been a battle getting Ellia to drink the water. She grew weaker by the minute as I held the pouch to her lips, my body blocking the guards from noticing. Most of it spilled onto her pallid cheeks and cracked lips. After the thirdattempt, I nudged the water behind a groove in the cave.

Ellia breathed deeply, her chest rising and falling far too rapidly. “Moria?”

“Yes?” I answered as my fingers swept sections of her wet hair back.

“Can you… sing to me?” She clasped her hands together. “My mother used to sing old lullabies. Could you?”

My hand froze. “Ellia?—”

“Please.”

I shook my head. “I don’t sing anymore. Not even to the gods.”

Ellia’s lips turned into a slight frown as she turned over, her tiny body shivering. “Okay,” she said meekly as her eyes closed, shutting those blue gems away.

She passed out before I could protest further.

A sigh flowed from my lips as I stared at the stalagmites. What was I doing? I was risking death for a girl I’d just met. Maybe I wanted to protect her, or maybe… maybe it was the burning in my palm as I unfurled the piece of paper the woman had slipped to me during the commotion.

She’d placed it in my hand after the slap—a seamless transfer despite the radiating ache lingering in my cheekbone.

I unfurled the paper as I brought it close to my eyes. The light was dim, but I made out the few words scribbled on the paper?—

Beware black minerals.

Rebellion starts at dawn.

Shoving the paper into my mouth, I chewed quickly before swallowing it whole.

Rebellion. Here, at Galar.

My mind swirled with possibilities. Possibilities of no longer being a slave?—

But there had alsobeen the warning.

What did it mean to beware of black minerals? Were they dangerous?

Coughing echoed in the cave as I mulled over those words again and again.

Beware black minerals.

Beware black minerals.

Chapter 13

Old Scars

THALIA

Adjustingthe pack against my back, my breaths were labored as I followed behind Ivan, my legs threatening to buckle from underneath me.

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