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Rafferty cringes. “And they would.”
“Thanks for the confidence.” I lie back down.
He shrugs and settles down beside me, pulling the blanket over the both of us. My back is still tucked on the one side at least, so if I do roll, it will be into the wall of muscle. As long as he stays in this tree, I will, too—or, at least, that’s what I tell myself.
Not like my luck has been overly great these days.
We settle down in the tree, and I listen to the soft chirping of insects nearby. “Rafferty?”
“Yes?”
“What if she can’t break the union?”
“I told you. I will escort you home and keep you safe.”
“You do know if I go back there, I’ll die, right?”
Rafferty is silent, his breathing level. “Then I will remain at your side until your final breaths. You will not die alone, Ember. That is my vow to you should we need to return to your world.”
Tears spring into my eyes, and I reach down to grip his hand. “Thank you.” Dying alone was always what I’d planned on doing—not because I wanted to—but because there’d never been any choice.
But if Rafferty is there, if I’m not alone, then maybe it won’t be so bad.
* * *
I’m wokenby Rafferty lightly shaking me. “Shhh,” he whispers, pressing his finger to his lips. In the dark, I can barely make out his face, but I do as he asks, remaining silent as I stare up at him, and fear ices my veins.
He drops his head down and whispers directly into my ear, “Remain still, but if I say run, you get on my back, and we will jump.”
I swallow hard and shut my eyes tightly, trying to focus on what’s around us. Is it Taranus? Conary? The guards? A creature?
My answer comes on the heels of an animal’s deafening screams.
Rafferty grips my hand and holds on, running his thumb over the top in an attempt to calm me, but it does nothing.
Tears burn the corners of my eyes as I lie there, listening to whatever is below die. Animal or not—how much death must I endure in this damned place?
Another creature clicks, an alien sound I can’t instantly tie back to anything I’ve ever seen onAnimal Planet.Then, another clicks and another, and I realize with sick fear that we might be surrounded.
The cries stop.
The clicking stops.
And then there’s nothing but dead silence.
No owls, no crickets. Just the breeze.
“Roll toward me,” Rafferty whispers, “And hold on.”
I don’t even hesitate, trusting the man with every single fiber of my being. Clinging to him, I wait. Something shoots up in front of us, straight into the trees, and he jumps, hitting the ground with a grunt.
I don’t even know how to process the leap he made or the fact that he’s running.
Mainly because the clicking behind us is deafening. He runs, arms pumping, as quickly as he can through the trees, but it’s not enough. They’re gaining on us.
“When I put you down, run!” he bellows.
There’s not even time to argue before he sets me down. The moment my feet hit the cool grass, I take off at a run. Within minutes, my lungs are burning, but I keep going, knowing he must be behind me.
By the time I realize he’s not, I’m lost.
In a forest. In the middle of a hostile world I can’t even begin to understand.
