Page 103 of The Stolen Princess
But he hadn’t.
Myka had been up so high that the fall back down to reality was long and far. She should have expected it. Every love that she’d had in her life had let her down.
Usually when things got hard in her life, Myka wanted to find the fastest way out. Theeasiestway out. She wanted to joke and pretend that everything was okay. But this felt different. This time, she needed to walk through her pain, let the scorching fire of it burn her. She might not even be walking through it—her never-ending tears made it seem like crawling through it was more accurate. Either way, she wanted to get to the other side of this heartache and be a stronger, better version of herself. She didn’t know what that version looked like. There were too many unknowns in her life. Her pain would become her motivation to move forward. Not necessarily to find happiness, but to find a meaning behind this mess. Because what’s the point of suffering, if a person doesn’t learn anything from it?
26
Drake
Drake opened his eyes. It was time to stop pretending that he was asleep. He wasn’t fooling himself. Trying to sleep without Myka next to him was rough. There had been a lot of tossing and turning, blank stares at the shelter ceiling, sighs, and pillow adjustments. Nothing seemed to work. Sleep wouldn’t come, despite the comfortable pre-Desolation mattress below him.
He glanced at the Brett Favre jersey, and his heart fell. He’d made such a mess of everything. They had a week-long journey back to Albion, and he planned on using the entire trip to make Myka see how sorry he was.
Drake shut the shelter door behind him, looking back once. Eventually, he would tell the Tolsten High Rulers about the place so that all the pre-Desolation artifacts could be taken to Tolsten House and preserved.
He made his way to camp. The sun was up and bright, and he wondered if anyone hadgotten Myka out yet. Grady, Kase, and Portlend had already started a fire and were cooking breakfast. Portlend was in the middle of telling a story about Queen Emree from Enderlin. She was his favorite topic to talk about. Howhehad made the choice to let her go and put his career before love, but the fact that he kept talking about it ten years later made Drake think he held on to some feelings and regret.
“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made,” Portlend said, stirring the eggs. “Too many men change their plans for a woman. They lose sight of their goals and the person they need to become. Duty is more important than love. A man fulfilling his duty to his king and country is by far more satisfied than one chained to a woman.”
Grady raised his eyebrows like he couldn’t care less about this topic. Drake sat down, taking in Portlend’s words. That was the future he looked forward to. A life full of duty with no room for love. In ten years, he would be Portlend. He glanced over at the man. He was fit, in shape, clearly good at his job since he’d been chosen as Enderlin’s operative, but that was it. Portlend didn’t have anything else going for him. He talked about his duty and the love that he had let go of ten years ago.
Drake didn’t want that kind of life.
He didn’t want to be thinking about Myka for the rest of his life.
He wanted to bewithher.
No matter how much he tried to fight it, he wanted Myka in his life.
Drake stood up. He looked behind him. “Where is everybody? Has anyone checked on Myka?”
“Winslow’s washing his clothes down by the river,” Portlend said, not looking up from whipping the eggs. “And I don’t know where Dawsick is. I haven’t seen him yet.”
“I think he took the princess to the bathroom,” Kase said. “Because when I walked past her shack, the chains were already off.”
Drake tensed. He didn’t like the idea of Myka alone with Dawsick.Concern touched his brow. What if Dawsick had hurt her? He never should have left her alone. “I better go check on them.”
“I’m sure Dawsick’s fine,” Grady muttered.
“Dawsick isn’t the one I’m worried about.”
Drake walked through the trees calling out their names.
When he couldn’t find them in the woods, Drake picked up his pace. “They aren’t out there,” he said to the men around the fire as he rushed by.
“Relax,” Kase said. “They are probably in the shack.”
Drake threw open the shack door, glancing around. Dawsick lay face up on Myka’s cot. His eyes were open, but they were hollow. His mouth gaped, and a trail of dried throw-up went from his lips down to his shoulder.
Drake hurried to his side. “Dawsick!” he called out, shaking him, but he didn’t move. His skin was cold and pale.
He was dead.
Drake spun around, looking for clues. On the table was an orange medicine bottle with the name of a drug he’d never heard of. The last sentence stood out to him.Do not mix with alcohol.He set the bottle down, looking over the room until he saw a tin cup. He bent down, picking it up. It smelled of alcohol, and Drake knew what had happened. What Myka had done. He hadn’t been there when she’d needed him the most, and he hated himself for it.
He barreled out the front of the shack, shouting to the other men, “She’s gone!”
“What?” Portlend said.
