Page 2 of Heart of Thorns

It’s getting harder to breathe. I need to move. I scramble to stand, and that’s when I see him. Her.Someone. They head for the door I need to reach.

He.Definitely a he.

He seems unbothered by the smoke and fire raging around us.

I cough a few more times and tug the collar of my shirt up over my nose and mouth.

“Help me,” I rasp. I stagger after him, my hand stretching out toward him. Toward the door. Toward safety.

The guy seems to pause with his hand on the door. I stare at the woven bracelet he’s wearing—it’s the one all the football players wore last year to show respect for their fallen player who was diagnosed with cancer.

Thank God.I stumble, but I keep moving toward him. My lungs are screaming, and my head swims. I’m so close.

Just when I think he’s going to reach out and pull me to safety, the door is slammed in my face.

Smoke fills my lungs.

I panic.

I fall onto the door, yanking on the handle. It doesn’t budge. And ithurts. The knob is too hot. I release it fast and spin around frantically. I need a window or another door. There isn’t time to think about anything other than getting out alive.

My lack of curiosity about this building bites me in the ass.

The fire seems to chase me. The first floor is completely engulfed in flames, and my only option is to return to the stairwell. I bump into the wall a few times. My vision playing tricks on me.

I run back into the room with my mountainscape. There’s a little more room to breathe in here, so I suck in air greedily. I can barely inhale without it triggering a cough.

The more pressing issue isescape. I’m educated enough to know that soon, the fire is going to cause a collapse. The roof, the foundation… This building wasn’t exactly the picture of sturdy before the fire, and now, it’s definitely not.

If I don’t get out right this second, I’m going to die here.

My attention clings to the huge windows.

I’m on the second floor, but I have no choice.

I grab my stepladder stool and throw it at the window. It shatters, the bits of glass and the ladder crash to the ground below.

No time to waste. I vault myself over the edge.

Next thing I know, I’m free falling.

CHAPTER 1

BRIAR

FOUR MONTHS LATER

“Damn it!”

Lydia winces when I curse. She does that a lot, and from her position on the couch, I’ve got a direct line to her expression. Wrinkled nose, flattened lips, closed eyes.

You know what else she does a lot? Scans the internet for a new place to live.

Scoring a roommate at the last second was probably a relief to her. Except, instead of getting a built-in bestie like most of the college girls who share an apartment, she gotme.

Briar Hart.

The girl with a heart of thorns.

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