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“I’ll miss you,” I whispered into her ear.
She smiled, adjusting our baby girl on her hip to turn and look up at me. Those deep moss-colored eyes were so full of love that it made me sick to leave.
Her soft fingertips swept across my bottom lip, making me groan. “I miss you already, Kell.”
I kissed the tips of her fingers and leaned my forehead against hers.
“How long will you be gone this time?” she whispered, laughing when Helena, our baby girl, tugged at her hair.
I smiled. “Two weeks, tops. He’s jumped to the West Realm. It’s the furthest away. So, it'll take longer than last time?
She nodded, always understanding, even when she didn’t. “Helena and I will be here when you get back. I’ll go to the village sometime before then and get fresh apples to make your favorite pie.”
“There is only one thing I want to eat when I get back.”
Her cheeks flamed a dark red, and she shoved my shoulder out of embarrassment. “Don’t talk like that in front of the baby, Kellen,” she hissed.
“Helena, I will miss you, too.”
She swung her small arms around my neck and gave me a sloppy wet kiss. I chuckled. I was in love with the feeling of being loved.
“We’ll be waiting on you,” she said.
I pulled away, stalking toward the door. I stopped and gave them one last look. “See you soon, sweet girl.”
I sat up, gasping for breath.
It felt as if a cement block had weighed me down and forced me to endure my biggest regret over and over again.
That had been my biggest regret. That was the last time I’d seen my wife and baby girl.
Deidamia had snatched it all away from me, promised me a favor for a favor, and then broke her promise.
She never planned to give my family back to me.
She took their lives and lied to me about it.
She took away the only thing that grounded me in life. Then one event led to another, and I was promised my life back if I drank the elixir.
That was one of many lies she told me.
My family was dead because of her.
Tears raced down my face like heated drops of water. My cheeks were tight from crying. It’d been years since I cried. Years since I let myself fall back into those days I hated so badly.
With all the hatred in my body, I stood up and wiped my face.
The woods behind me were daunting. The crow sat on the lowest branch of the tree in front of me. All the leaves had fallen off like the others in the Dark Woods.
My parched throat screamed for water, but I knew I wouldn’t find it where I was going. I stepped closer to the tree line, feeling death and darkness taking over the atmosphere.
The grass beneath my feet turned black, the tree branches jagged and looming over me in a canopy of sharp points and ghostly shadows.
I remembered nothing about my trip to Deidamia’s castle.
I woke there with promises forced-fed down my throat and I fell for them hook, line and sinker.
Walking up the slanted hill, I dug my boots into the grimy mud and stopped once I made it to the top.
