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“You don’t have any other option.” He either forced me, or he gave me something in return.
He touched me again with just his look, his big hands in my hair, his body guiding me flat against the bed, his narrow hips sliding between my parting thighs. His weight pressed me into the mattress, and he looked down at me like I was a newfound paradise he would claim in his name. “I do.”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t.” I was terrified to defy him, but the words fluttered out anyway. If he really forced himself on me, I’d just give in and allow it to happen because a fight would be pointless. But knowing that he wouldn’t gave me some courage to disagree. He gave me a power that no one else in this camp had given me. I took it and ran with it.
He turned his gaze to the fire. “I don’t need another option. I just have to wait for the option I want. And I will.”
I worked in the clearing, my fingertips callused from the constant toil from sunrise to sunset. With our heads down, each one of us worked as if our lives depended on it—because they did.
It was Friday. That meant someone would be selected.
I hoped it wasn’t Raven.
Everyone looked up when they saw the boss approach, flanked by his men, striding through the clearing carrying his massive shoulders beneath his bomber jacket. His breath escaped his nose as he exhaled, creating a cloud of white smoke in front of him. His eyes didn’t land on me until he began to pass.
He looked at me just as he did in the cabin.
The look lasted a moment before it was gone—and he departed.
All I should feel was relief at his departure, but there was a flare of disappointment. Ever since he’d taken an interest in me, the guards stopped manhandling me every time they escorted me anywhere. They didn’t say a word to me either, didn’t taunt me. I’d clearly been designated as off-limits, and I suspected that respect would continue even when he was gone. My nights in the cabin gave me a bit of normalcy, where I had the power to make decisions that were accepted.
I shouldn’t feel grateful for that, not when he was the reason this camp existed in the first place, but I was.
Night descended. My worst nightmare began.
Torches were lit, the noose was readied, and the block was set in place for the next victim. The executioner made his way down the aisles, staring down all the women who kept their heads bent in the hope that they would escape his notice.
Not Raven…not Raven.
I didn’t want anyone to die, but if it had to be someone…please, not her.
Then she stood up.
The executioner wasn’t even in her aisle, but he stopped to turn to her.
“No…” Raven, stop.
Raven stared him down fearlessly, as if she wanted death to come. “I’m the one you want, so let’s cut the shit.”
“No…” Tears sprang to my eyes, and I instinctively rose to my feet.
Petunia yanked me back down. “There’s nothing you can do for her. Stop.”
All I could do was mask my tears with quiet whimpers, feel the warmth of the liquid coat my cold cheeks.
The executioner marched her to the block, secured the noose around her neck, and his eyes shone with mirth, as if claiming the life of someone who deserved to live more than the rest of us were some kind of accomplishment.
If only the boss had accepted my offer.
“Don’t look.” Petunia turned my face to her to shield me from the pain. “I’ll tell you when it’s over.”
I could hear the moment Raven’s weight dropped, hear the tension of the cord, but I didn’t hear a sound come from her. I held on to Petunia and sobbed, knowing that my sister was about to be gutted because of me.
Because of me.
“Stop!” A man’s voice rang out in the clearing.
I immediately turned away from Petunia to see something I never expected.
A guard cut her down, told off the executioner, and saved my sister’s life.
My fingers wiped the tears from my cheeks as I watched the rope be cut from between her wrists. “What?” There was a mark around her throat where the rope had burned into her skin, and she coughed into the snow, trying to catch her breath after nearly suffocating. When the guard was finished berating the executioner, he leaned over and extended his hand to her, like they were equals. The look in her eyes was one I’d never forget, like she was looking at more than her savior…but her friend.
“She must be sleeping with him,” Petunia whispered. “And it paid off…because he just saved her life.”
When I returned to my cabin, my body was numb.
I didn’t even see what had happened, didn’t lose my sister, but the incident was traumatizing, nonetheless. The guard opened my cabin door and ushered me inside before he shut the door behind him.
