Page 61 of A Simple Truth

“Finnleah…” I covertly uttered.

“No,” she whispered before I could finish, her voice quiet but direct, almost commanding.

“They’ll kill us if we don’t,” I insisted.

“No,”she replied sternly. A little shiver ran through my body, because it wasn’t just a suggestion. No, it was anorder.

An order she gaveme.

An order I now obeyed.

It dawned on me in that moment that she’d rather die here than see another elf die from the Destroyer’s scorching fire, and my heart ached at the thought.

“No fire then,” I murmured understandingly, the blood within me slithering with adrenaline, awaiting its call.

“Do you want two wars on your hands?” she seethed through her teeth, her eyes still on the elves darting between them.

“Finnleah…” I reasoned. But then she turned to me, nothing but determination written across her mesmerizing face.

“Do you trust me?” she asked. A simple question. Yet, one I didn’t expect.

A question I hadn’t considered before.

“Do you trust me, Gideon?” she impatiently repeated, shooting me an urgent look.

“You are about to do something truly imprudent that will get us both killed, aren’t you?” I alleged.

She didn’t even attempt to lie as she said, “Yes.”

“Yes, Finnleah, I trust you,” I replied, because there wasn’t a single moment of hesitation within me. And perhaps I wasfoolish not to realize it sooner; until spears were pointed straight at our necks.

She nodded with appreciation and turned her eyes back to the elves.

I took a long breath, letting it out cautiously.

It was never a question if I could trust her. Because I did.

The thing that I wasn’t sure about now, was how much I could trustmyselfto simply watch the woman that captured my heart put herself in danger.

For me.

For my people.

And for those wicked fucking elves.

37

FINNLEAH

Elves.

We were surrounded byactualelves. The creatures they straddled were terrifying, but still not as ferocious as the feral elven eyes on us. Somehow, amidst all that, I felt as if for once, I wasn’t ignorant; I wasn’t lost or unaware, I was ahead of them.

Because I understood.

I understood everything. Not just the words, but their glances, their slight snarls. Their calls for their god, their silent curses as they assessed the clear, warrior-like General’s figure.

They were not here for us.

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