Page 88 of Paper Thin Love

I don’t reply. I walk to the wall and begin to prep my hands then stretch. Before I broke my leg I always knew I was a good fighter, my dad had been training me since I was a small boy. These past few days without the portable cast, I finally feel like I have a chance.

I haven’t been to a Cleansing. Maybe it’s foolish of me, perhaps it’s fear or maybe I’m trying to quell my anticipation because I want to fight. I want to taste the edge of death again. Teeter my toes off the edge, feel the adrenaline, the rushing of blood swarm my ears until all I can hear is my frantic heart beat and not Mila.

There, I thought it. I admitted the truth.

What haunts me isn’t the fact that I’ll have to fight in The Cleansing.

It’s the after.

Dante, Cillian and I know our time here is limited. We’re being trained for something and I know that won’t include Mila until much later. She might be my betrothed but knowing my dad he won’t allow me to get married for years. Where life takes me, twist and shapes me is going to be much too dark for Mila. The best thing I can do is to help her escape not just her life but me.

Dante sinks down next to me, his body thumping against the hardwood floor. He grabs the tape and begins to fiddle with it. “I watched my brother fall in love with a girl.”

I snort, “Isn’t Nico like fifteen.”

Dante looks off into the distance as if his brother’s picture is hanging on the training room wall. “Love isn’t ageist. Nico fell in love with this girl the moment he saw her. They were only mere children then. I think he was four. She ran into him on the beach and asked him to help her find seashells.”

“How cute.” I reply with frustration. I know Dante means well but I don’t need one if his famous lectures. “Are you going to help him plan the wedding?” I sneer.

“Good,” Cillian barks, “You’re feisty today.”

“No,” Dante glares at me. “The girl is gone now, she took his heart with her.”

I narrow my eyes. “Who killed her?”

Dante rubs his jaw, “I didn’t say she was dead.”

“What’s your point?”

“Cherish the time you have with Mila. It won’t always be like this. It will be much, much worse before the tides start to shift again.”

My swallow echos through the chambers of my shattered body. “I’m using her. That’s that.” I bite.

Dante flashes me a grin that calls me a liar. “So use her then. I see the way you two look at each other. One day your horizon is going to be so bleak you’ll need those good memories to persevere.” He stands.

“That’s a shitty pep talk.”

“I’m a fucked up person. What did you expect?” He holds out his hand. I accept it as he pulls me up. “Mila is bound to you, one day you’ll have to tell her that. It would be better to come from you rather than a stranger.”

“Maybe one day I can set her free.”

Dante arches a brow, “You and I both know you’d never allow that to happen.”

“I promised her I would.”

“Promises in our world are often skewed.”

Cillian stomps onto the center of the mat. “Are you two going to chit chat or are are we going to train?”

“I will let her go.” I hiss with determination.

Dante watches me before he tips his head back and laughs deeply. “You’re going to set her free in a maze that leads directly back to you, brother.” He finally replies as he dips his chin then turns to Cillian. “Let’s begin.”

Chapter 34

Mila

Every predator reacts differently when they sense their end is near. Some go out fighting, some turn into prey and flee, others dare to lazily ignore the Grim Reaper and continue living as if death can’t touch them.

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