Page 84 of The General's Captive
“Your tears say differently,” he stated, before using his thumb to wipe a single tear away, swiping it from my skin gently. And for once there was no arrogant mocking like I had come to expect.
“Come, I have something to show you,” he told me, taking a step back and offering me his hand. But when I refused to take it, he reminded me, “Do not mistake this for a choice, Alexandra. Not when there are still parts of our deal I can revoke,” he said, reminding me of the protection he agreed to provide for people at the base.
So, knowing all the terrible decisions I had made so far, I placed my hand in his. Watching as he curled his fingers around it, the sight more than symbolic, like bars of a cage closing in around me.
However, the second he took a step toward the enormous steed of his, this was when my body hit its limit, because I cried out. But before my legs could crumble, dropping me to the floor, The General acted. He swept my body up in his arms, his cloak bellowing out behind him from the action.
I swallowed hard as he carried me toward his horse, making me protest.
“No, wait, I can walk!”
He huffed and told me, “A bird with a broken wing doesn’t fly.”
And before I could reply, he lifted me up to his horse that looked impossibly tall. I reached out and grabbed the saddle horn, before I could slip back down. Then he reached up, put his foot in the stirrup and heaved himself up behind me. I swallowed hard when I felt his muscular arms come around me, making me feel trapped. The way his strong legs pushed my own forward, so as I was soon straddling the very front of the saddle.
He took hold of the reins before giving a stern command in a language I didn’t recognize. The Myths waiting beyond the bridge separated to allow him through before falling in line behind him.
The feel of his chest against my back was one I tried to put distance between, now holding myself ridged. Only, the second he had the space to do so, he dug his heels in and whipped the reins. The horse sped up into a gallop, making me jerk back against him as if he had done this to prove a point, counteracting my own. His other hand came to my belly to hold me close to him, as if he feared I would fall. And I hated it! Hated how it made me feel! Hated how my heart started to speed up to match the horse’s pounding hooves.
Hated how I didn’t hate it at all.
“I can feel your warring emotions,” he said, after finally slowing the horse once we were back on the road that led to the prison.
I didn’t answer.
“How is Aster?” I asked, instead.
He scoffed.
“Feeling foolish for being bested by a human half his size,” he replied, making me sigh and, for some reason, this made his fingers flex against my stomach.
“Yes, well he isn’t the only one who feels foolish,” I admitted, regretting it instantly when his arrogant reply came.
“Foolish indeed if you believed you could escape me…could escape your fate.”He whispered the last part after dipping his head closer to my ear, making me shiver against him.
But after this he didn’t say any more as we continued toward the front of the prison. The same building he had shown me in my dream.
He stopped his horse right in front of the doors before he dismounted.
“Swing your leg over and I will catch you,” he said.
I purposely looked down at the other side of his horse, making him snap, “It would be foolish to try and would only hurt your hip further.”
This told me that he knew I was injured, thanks to Aster. But of course, he would have told him everything.
I released a sigh, and with little option I swung my leg over toward him. This prompted him to reach up and catch my waist as I slid down. A gentle motion as he lowered me slowly down the front of him.
To save myself the shame, I closed my eyes until I was on my feet.
But then he whispered down at me,“Do I make you nervous, Alexandra?”
I swallowed hard and forced my eyes to open, braving to look up at him. His dark eyes were strangely hypnotic and drew me in. An impulse I quickly denied myself, now taking a step back.
“No,” I lied, and it was one he scoffed at.
“Your lies are as weak as the bargains you make,” he added scornfully, making me recoil before scowling up at him.
A look he matched before a smirk emerged, as if he enjoyed pissing me off.
