Page 107 of Break Her Heart
“The blood in my veins puts a target on my back. They would never stop hunting me. But you—at least without me—you have a chance.”
“I will not leave you,” she said fiercely. “I’d rather die with you than spend the rest of my life running without you.”
“I’ve been selfish with you since the moment I met you,” I whispered. “I should never have forced you to come here.”
She stared up at me, her entire body shaking. “You know you can’t make me do anything. I was angry, but I came because I wanted to. Because I wanted to be with you.”
I brushed my fingers down her cheek, memorizing the shape of her. Even if I still found a way to stop this, she’d never forgive me for what I was about to do. But I would carry her hatred forever if it meant she was safe.
“Still, I should’ve never given you that option. I should’ve let you go, because I knew what could happen. I knew what it might cost.”
I kissed her forehead, then looked into her eyes and did the only thing that might save her.
“I will not be selfish with you anymore.”
She felt it instantly—the shift in my voice, the pull of the command.
Her body went rigid. “August, no—”
“I love you, Winnie,” I said, the compulsion settling deep inside her.
“August!”
“Get Adar and never stop running.”
35
Bronwen
ONE MONTH LATER
The market was alive with sound. Merchants shouted in a language I only half-understood, selling fruits the color of fire, silk scarves that rippled like water in the wind, and spices that burned my nose even as they enticed me. The sun beat down overhead, a harsh and brilliant contrast to the cold we’d left behind in Joveryn. Here, everything was dust and gold and heat. Sweat clung to my back beneath the loose cotton dress I wore, and my dark waves were pulled up in a messy knot to keep my neck cool.
Adar and I moved slowly between the stalls, pretending to be unhurried. Blending in. We’d been doing that for weeks now—moving from one place to the next, never staying long, always looking over our shoulders. Seranthia, tucked between the seaand stretches of shimmering desert, had so far proven safe. But I never felt truly safe.
Adar bartered with a vendor in a shaded stall. I stood beside him with a basket of fruit resting against my hip, the sun glinting off the gold ring still tied to the string around my neck.
It had been a month. A month since August compelled me to leave.
To never stop running.
And that’s exactly what we’d been doing. We’d slip into some sun-bleached, dusty little town far from Joveryn, and Adar would try to tell me we were safe now. But somewhere deep in my bones was something screaming that I couldn’t stop. That the second I let myself believe in safety, something would find us.
August thought he was protecting me, and maybe he was. Maybe if I’d stayed, I would be dead by now. But the knowledge didn’t make the betrayal hurt less.
He didn’t ask. He took the choice from me like he said he’d never do.
And yet, even now—sweating under this foreign sun, dressed in stolen clothes, surrounded by strangers—I missed him. I missed the way he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered. I missed his temper, his hands, his voice in the dark.
But missing him didn’t change anything. The Blood Moon was coming soon, and I could feel the magic in my arm buzzing with warning.
Had he already found a way to stop Carrow and was searching for me to bring me home? I doubted it.
I was just praying for a miracle. A way for him to stop Carrow so he could come to me and I could punch him in the face. And then kiss him.
I hated him for sending me away, and I hated myself more for still loving him.
And that I never told him.
