Page 19 of Samuel
Before I knew it, we’d reached the cabin, and Samuel gently set me down on the bed.
His touch was careful, as if he was afraid I might break.
I wanted to snap at him again, to regain some control over the situation, but the exhaustion hit me like a wave.
I barely had the strength to sit up.
“Rest,” Samuel said, his voice softer now. “I’ll bring you some food and water.”
I wanted to argue, to insist that I didn’t need anything from him, but the truth was, I was too tired to fight anymore.
My eyelids felt heavy, and before I knew it, I was drifting off into a dream.
In the dream, I was at my own funeral. There was no one there, save for Finn.
He stood alone, weeping quietly as they lowered my body into the ground. There were no other mourners.
No one to remember me, no one to care. I had always been alone, but seeing it laid out like that made it real.
Made it hurt in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
When I woke up, the dream lingered, a dull ache in my chest.
The smell of something good reached my nose—soup, maybe—and I realized Samuel had returned.
He set a bowl of soup and a bottle of water on the table beside the bed.
“I’m not hungry,” I muttered, the weight of the dream still pressing on me.
Samuel took a sip of the soup, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
“Tastes good,” he said.
I scowled, my stomach betraying me with a loud growl. Without thinking, I snatched the spoon from him and took a bite.
To my annoyance, itwasgood.
I ate in silence, refusing to meet his gaze, but when the bowl was empty, I couldn’t deny the warmth spreading through me.
It wasn’t just the food—it was the strange, unspoken connection between us, one I wasn’t ready to confront.
When I was done, I pushed the bowl aside and finally spoke, my voice low. “You said earlier you wouldn’t stop me from leaving.”
Samuel’s expression was unreadable as he leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.
“I did. But you saw what’s out there,” Samuel pointed out.
I didn’t want to admit he was right. The wolves, the danger—it was too much for me to handle alone in my current state.
“You said I need to heal. What happens after that?” I asked, the question catching in my throat. “After I heal… I can go my own way?”
I wasn’t sure why I asked it, or why the thought of leaving made my chest ache.
Samuel studied me for a moment, his eyes softening. “If you like.”
His words echoed in my mind. He didn’t sound worried. Maybe he wasn’t concerned about me straying far from him.
Maybe he knew something I wasn’t ready to acknowledge.
