Page 53 of Savage Thief

Sharp edges of tile bite into my knees. I focus on that pain instead of the daggers piercing my heart. All I want to do is go to my daughter and disappear but I can’t risk her life. The Druid is out there waiting for me to slip up. The second I do he will not only have the strength of the Titan Empire, but he’ll also have me by the throat. I already know if he were to find my baby girl, I would do anything he needed of me.

Because of these truths, I know what I have to do next, but it’s beyond dangerous. Dying doesn’t scare me, but leaving this world knowing only one other person knows of my baby’s existence leaves me shaken. But if I can pull it off with no one knowing it will make everyone around me safe.

But Hark is not going to like it. If everything goes according to plan, he won’t find out until it’s done anyway.

There are too many people at the mercy of the Druid who is now wielding the power of the Titan empire. I have to stop him.

Heat flares across my chest and I clench my teeth to keep from screaming out my frustration. Fury rumbles through me alive and well. No one should suffer through the betrayal I’ve lived with, but just a little longer and I’ll right the wrongs done against me. And keep others from dying in the process.

And then I can reclaim my life and make it safe for my daughter.

The night I finally gave myself to Hark is the night we forged a connection deeper than love. We made a love child. Nine months of agony followed and, in the end, my father made sure I couldn’t hold onto the last part of Hark I had left.

It was made clear to me I had two options. She either died by my father’s blade or I gave her up to complete strangers.

I went for the third option and gave the best fucking performance of my life and passed her off as a still-born.

My heart clenches as the memories roll over me. Only Doctor Rook knew of my deceit toward my father. Five minutes was all I had with my sweet child before her tiny body was scooped off my chest and passed over to a friend willing to disappear with my child. The only person I had left in this world I could trust with such a precious gift.

I fall forward, my hands bracing me from completely collapsed to the shower floor. What have I done? One moment of weakness for a man I loved has ruined so many.

Rough, callused hands slip under my arms and I don’t fight Hark when he wraps an arm around me. He comes to his knees and when our eyes lock there’s nothing to say that we don’t already know. His touch pulls me out of the dark pit of despair I have fallen head-first into.

Water runs over us. So caught up in my misery I didn’t notice when he walked into the bathroom nor when he stripped.

We sit on the shower floor. No words, just the hot water and the weight of our pasts tearing at our resolve.

I finally give in to the pressure building inside. “He shot my father in front of me, Hark, and I didn’t do anything but run away. He forced him to sign everything over to him and then just put a bullet in his head. How long before I was next?”

A firm hand cups the back of my head and I focus on the grounding effect his touch has on me. I let it tether me to the earth when I want to float away to the ether.

“You were smart,” he rumbles in a rough, pained voice. “The Druid would have killed you too had you tried to fight.”

Silence.

He rests his chin on the top of my head. “And then I would have followed. The only thing that keeps me here is the fact I knew you lived.”

“I traded you for my crown. And I’ve paid dearly for it ever since. Thinking you were gone left me a shell, Hark.” Emotion washes from my words leaving behind a coldness that makes me shiver. The only reason I kept pushing forward was for our baby. I open my mouth to tell him this, to give us both a reason to keep fighting beyond what we both shared once. But the words don’t come. I can’t seem to force them out of the depth I buried them in so long ago.

Hark does nothing but hold me tighter and like the selfish person I am, I take his strength.

Tears fall hard and fast and he does nothing but anchor me to him when my chest heaves and rolls. For the first time in so long, I let the anger, fear, and agony of losing Hark and our small family show. Doc’s words worm their way into my mind, but I don’t have the energy it would take to tell Hark there’s a little girl out there with his beautiful obsidian eyes.

Exhaustion tugs at my eyes. I picture her sweet smile. Her innocence. I’ll do anything and everything to protect her from the bloodshed and death consuming my family from the inside out. I’ve spent the last four years watching her from afar with the hopes of one day reclaiming her as my own. I just need to hold on a little longer.

Protecting her means also protecting her from ourselves. Because the second I tell Hark he’s a father I know him. He’ll hunt to the ends of the earth to find her. I can’t have that. Not until all the demons who can harm her have been slain.

Until then, no one else can know Heaven exists.

Twelve

Dragon

Four hours later I leave an exhausted Asena sleeping in my bed and take to the open road.

I have no idea how to feel right now besides pissed off and thirsty for the Druid’s blood.

I know the only two things I should concern myself with are the fact the Druid knows I am alive and that I punched my president in the face. But I can’t keep Asena far from my thoughts for long. The issues I have with the Savages’ leader will just have to wait. I have a much bigger problem on my hands than his lies.

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