Page 21 of The Lands Defying
But the thing is, you have no say in it when it happens.
An invisible force pushes you off that cliff, and all you can do is hope there are hands waiting for you at the bottom.
And that’s more terrifying than anything else.
Seven
Rhea
“Wow,” Josh says, looking out through the field of lesia flowers. “He really did make you a flower field.”
I smile, my fingers running over hanging branches of a willow tree. “He did.” It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
“I can hold this over him now.” He nods to himself, a smile on his face.
I bump his shoulder with mine. “Leave him alone.”
He raises a brow. “Did you just defend him?” I pause, horrified. “You just defended the enemy. It’s over for us.”
“Shut up.” I hiss at him, wincing as the others up ahead turn around to look at me.
Fuck me.
I groan as they all laugh, my cheeks heating.
We walk more through the field, silence following.
Josh stares at me every now and then, and I know he’s waiting for me to speak.
I sigh, pausing before I flop down on the ground.
“It was horrible,” I tell him, looking up at the afternoon sun. “She was hanging there, being hurt, but still defiant of Charles.”Tears spring to my eyes. “He killed her in cold blood. Slit her throat…” I gag over the words and squeeze my eyes shut.
Josh is there next, pulling me to a sitting position and hauling me into a hug.
“I’m so fucking sorry.” He rocks me back and forth as I cling to him, feeling his comfort.
“She was so brave,” I whisper. “She fought a losing battle right up until the end.”
“Catherine was always like that when we were little. Remember that one kid that kept picking on us?” I release a wet laugh. “She went all mama wolf on him, and he never bothered us again.”
They didn’t.
“She thought of you as hers too, you know.” I tell him, and he releases a stuttering breath.
“I know. I thought of her as my mother too.”
I sigh into him. “I’m so tired of crying. I barely cried for years, and now I can’t stop.”
“You have been through a lot,” he says, rubbing my back.
I go to dispute it, something I normally would do, but Ihavebeen through a lot. I can’t keep shoving it aside.
“We all have.” I relent a little, letting myself share these thoughts. I look over the flowers over his shoulder, then look toward the trees as a cold wind makes its branches flow. “So pretty.”
Josh pulls back and turns to see what I’m looking at. “You and trees,” he teases, and I huff out a laugh, shivering.
In a few short weeks, winter will be here and we can start to feel it.
