I turn to Kolden who’s ushering a man and woman past, both bound in rags they hold tight against their emaciated frames. The final two prisoners—aside from this woman, the little girl, and the boy in the feeding arena.
Some of them have been going to Kolden, following him out. Freedom still tastes sweet, even when it’s served by the man who led other captives to their demise.
I reach out my hand. “Can you please pass me the key?”
He pauses, looks at me with a guarded expression, then urges the others to continue—one of them leaning so much on the other it’s surprising they don’t topple over.
Kolden cuts a glance behind me, stepping forward.
I step back.
He sighs, stare drifting to the prisoners still hobbling down the hall, then back to the woman behind me. “Not that one,” he says, dipping his voice lower than usual. “I locked it for a reason.”
What the …fuck?
“I’m not leavingany,” I growl, and his eyes soften.
“She’s already gone, Orlaith.”
My heart drops, his words crippling my ability to stand.
I snap my hand out and hang my weight on a bar as he runs to catch up with the others, taking the arm of the woman dragging her foot and wrapping it around his neck, supporting most of her weight.
My head turns, gaze delving between the bars. The woman’s red hair spills across the stone, and realization chokes my next breath, that dome inside me shaking,shaking… like something’s rustling around beneath it.
Is she the little girl’s sister? Mother?
Did the child watch her die?
I move down the hallway, each step feeling more weighted than the last. Like there’s something inside me that’s growing bigger by the second. I near the little girl’s space.
She hasn’t moved.
Entering her cell, I crouch low and soften my steps so as not to startle her. I swipe her hair back from her cheek, her flesh warm despite her vacant eyes. “Your story doesn’t end here, sweetie …”
She doesn’t answer. Doesn’t blink. Doesn’t flinch.
My lungs compact.
“Small seeds grow into big, strong things,” I rasp, easing my hands beneath her bent body. I lift her, tucking her close to my chest so she can feel the beat of my heart. “But they need sunlight and warmth to set their roots in the soil.”
Her body stays limp against mine … There’snothing.No sign that she’s alive other than the softwhumpof her heart.
Too slow.
Too steady.
I want to scream at her. Beg her to show me something.
Anything.
Instead, I whisper upon her brow, carrying her free of the cage, a lump forming in my throat. “You can’t get either of those things in here.”
A frail breath shudders through her, and it’s the most beautiful gift I’ve ever received. A tear rolls down my cheek as I tighten my grip.
Something.
Iease the child into the arms of one of the more healthy-looking females who appears to be able to bear her own weight. Brushing a curl back from the child’s face, I give the woman a tight smile. “Hold her close, please.”
