Page 56 of Seized to Sacrifice
‘I don't understand,’ she whimpered.
‘You know we can’t die. It was you who did this! You who left us in this realm for so long. Alone. I fucking hate you.’ He pulled her closer and whispered into her ear. ‘That will never, ever change.’
He dropped her and she felt back into the mud, gasping for air.
‘I don't remember,’ she rasped. ‘What part of that don’t you understand? I've lost my memory. I don't know you!’
She got to her feet, furious that he was treating her this way. In a burst of energy, she pushed him hard in his chest, forcing him a step back.
‘Fuck you!’ she yelled in his face. ‘Whatever I did to you, clearly you deserved.’
She turned, ignoring his shocked expression as she began to pick her way along the bank, leaving him behind.
‘Where are you going?’ he called after her a moment later.
‘To find the others,’ she replied. ‘I'm not going to be stuck here with you for any longer than I have to be.’
‘You'll not get anywhere before nightfall,’ he said. ‘We need to make camp, get dry before it gets too cold.’
‘What do you care?’ she called over her shoulder, but she gritted her teeth and turned back, annoyed that he was making sense. ‘Fine,’ she said, following him reluctantly. Of all three men, she cursed her luck that she was stuck alone with Thorne.
Whatever she had done in the past, it didn't warrant this cruelty, of that she was certain.
* * *
Thorne
She was still behind him,trudging through the forest with him as he tried to find a place that was not completely sodden, so that they could start a fire and try to get warm. The temperature was already dropping.
Glancing back, he saw that she was staring straight ahead, an angry look on her face. He met her expression with one of his own, furious at what she had said to him. He hadn't deserved what she'd done, none of them had.
They finally reached a bank with a sharp incline. He climbed up it, not bothering to see if she was following. He didn't give a shit if she was, he told himself, but of course he did or else he wouldn't have said anything when she was trying to leave. He looked back and found her struggling up the muddy hill.
Getting to the top first, he merely stood and watched as she struggled, finally finding a root to hold onto to pull herself up. She ignored him when she got to the top and they continued on.
‘Fuck,’ he muttered. ‘It doesn't matter where we go. Everything is too wet. We’ll not get a spark much less a fire. We’ll keep walking through the night to keep warm.’
‘Fine,’ she said, overtaking him on the path and not even looking in his direction.
His lip curled into a sneer. ‘I can't wait to be rid of you,’ he growled loudly enough for her to hear and was surprised when she actually replied.
‘I can’t wait for you to be rid of me either!’
His lip curled. He'd taken the message that Rye had given him straight to Evesmere and the portal had been open, which was unheard of so quickly after it had closed. The message had gone straight to its recipient.Heknew where she was already. Thorne only hoped that they could get her memory back before he arrived, so that they could get what they wanted out of her before she was out of their lives for good.
They walked well into the night before she finally stopped behind him.
‘I can't go any further,’ she said quietly, and he rolled his eyes even though he knew that she was tired. She was panting hard, and he’d heard her stumble more than once. He could see that she’d had to swallow her pride to tell him she needed to stop, and he was tempted to mock her for it except that she looked so fucking forlorn with her dirty face and wet clothes that he looked away and began to search for a shelter instead.
His eyes had adjusted to the dark and he could see quite well. That was one thing he could thank the Beast for, he supposed.
Nor far off the path, there was a boulder with an outcropping that they could take refuge beneath. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but at least they’d be able to rest there until the morning and it would save them from the worst of the weather. He went to it and inspected it, ensuring there was nothing else living there that could catch them unawares.
He could cast a circle like Rye could, but there didn’t seem to be much point in wasting the energy. He could hide their scents well enough – also thanks to the Beast. They’d be safe, even if there was anything Dark Realm in the area though he didn’t think there was for he hadn't sensed any.
He brought her to it, and she didn't say anything as she sat on the ground and curled herself up tightly, shivering. He was cold as well, and he cursed quietly.
‘We're just going to get colder if we don't sit closer together,’ he murmured.
