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I nodded and drew back. “Prove it to me and actually come back.” I lifted the box, snapping it closed as I shook it in view to him. “Come back alive, and I’ll marry you.”
His eyes sparked with hope. Timothy had been asking me to marry him since I turned eighteen nearly eighteen months ago. It was his dream to settle and have a family. I didn’t want to be stuck forever, which made wanting to stay by his side that much more complicated. Promising my hand in marriage would fuel him to strive to return to me. Even if I wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
“You will?” he asked for assurance, looking over me to make sure I wasn’t trying to play him.
I nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Timothy. As long as you come back to me in one piece and alive. And you protect Jasper and my dad the best you can.”
He nodded vigorously and stepped forward to inch the gap between us into a smaller section, holding his hand up. He folded his fingers into his palm except for his pinky. I bit my bottom lip and let out a slow breath of air before latching our pinkies together.
“Pinky swear,” we said in unison.
A horn blasted in the air, the warning signal for soldiers to ready themselves for departure. Timothy ignored it. He still had time and wrapped an arm around my waist before smashing our lips together. He turned our bodies and pressed me against a tree, our tongues fighting for dominance in each other’s mouths. I felt weak beneath his touch. I always felt so weak beneath his touch. I was going to miss it so much. This was the last of his touch I had for who knew how long.
When we parted, a second horn blew. This time, it caught Timothy’s attention, and we both turned our heads in that direction. Sea salt hit my nostrils, stinging. I could hear the tide coming in and the water lapping at the beach. When it did, the soldiers would set sail and leave us.
“I have to go,” I breathed, slipping out of Timothy’s hold. “I have to go say goodbye to Jasper and my dad.”
“Azula,” I turned at my name. “I love you. I really hope you know that.”
I nodded. “I love you too, Timothy. Stay alive, for me.”
“I promise.” He lifted a hand and pressed his lips against two fingers before blowing out.
I mimicked his action and turned, leaving the forest. We had just been right inside of it, not too far out of eyesight of the village, but far enough so any onlookers couldn’t see us. It was our special place, where we always went to get away from everybody. I ran because I knew if I walked, I would easily turn back and go to him, begging him not to go. I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t want any of them to go.
Our cabin was at the edge of the village. A small two-bedroom cottage. I slept in my parents' room when I was young, and Jasper had the other room. As I grew, I’d been given the second bedroom, and Jasper had the couch until he had been old enough for his own little one-bedroom shack. For the past few weeks, though, Jasper had been back in our cabin. He said it was to spend time with me so that I wouldn’t have to go back and forth, but I heard the whispering at night, and I’d caught the both of them bent over at the table, going over parchments and the works. I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but they were up to something, and leaving on the ship would set them forward on whatever secret plans they had.
Being on the fringes was for privacy. To keep noisy neighbors out of our business. Or at least, that’s what I was told. I vaguely recalled being smack in the middle of town at a very young age, where the street lined the cabins was boisterous with people. We moved to the outskirts after my mother was taken. I was sure that was why we moved to the edge of town. Because surrounded by the village folk, we had been an immediate target. Here, we had a chance to get away if it ever happened again.
It had been fourteen years. In school, I had done a report on the Skeletal’s. Nobody dared attempt that, because they were such a sore subject, but I had to know. I was sure the only reason I wasn’t questioned was because it was no secret what had happened to my mother. But because of that project, searching years back, I knew they attacked every sixteen years, which meant I’d get my chance to find out what had happened to my mother in two years. Because she would either have become one of them or flat out refused and let herself be eaten instead. Some small part of me wanted it to be the latter. Because being a Skeletal was far worse than death itself. But being able to live to see your kids and family for even just one more day had to be a tempting offer that couldn’t easily be passed up.
I pushed open the door to the cabin and slipped inside, disrupting my brother and father at the small, rickety table they’d been spending a lot of time at lately. This time, papers were littered all along the surface with one giant map beneath it all. Duffel bags filled with clothes sat at their feet, ready to go with the twelve horns that would blow.
At my appearance, my father gathered the papers and folded the map. I drew my hand behind my back and flicked my wrist, watching as one loose paper fluttered to the ground and spun beneath the cabinet next to the table.
“We were hoping Timothy would share you before we’d have to leave.” My father grinned, winking playfully at me.
Another horn blew loud, and I watched as my father stuffed his papers and map into his duffel bag, his lips moving in a whispered spell to keep me out of it.
ChapterEight
Ilooked at the duffel bag my father clutched in his hand. I knew better than to ask about it. I had the first couple of times, wanting to know what they were up to, but I wasn’t allowed to be privy to such information. I freaking lived here and wasn’t allowed to know army secrets or whatever they were up to. Anger boiled in the pit of my stomach, but goosebumps flitted up and down my arms.
“I wanted to be able to say goodbye to you guys,” I told him, forcing my eyes back to both their faces. “Tim wouldn’t be able to keep me away even if he tried.”
Jasper grinned with a shake of his head. When Timothy and I started dating, he hadn’t been thrilled about it. He still wasn’t, but at least he’d calmed down about the whole thing by this point. Especially since Time liked my best friend, and I’d caught them kissing one too many times for my own liking. He couldn’t exactly judge when he was on the same path as I was.
“What do you got there?” Jasper asked, jerking his chin in the direction of my hand.
Glancing down, I took notice of the frayed little black velvet box. I’d almost forgotten about it in the wake of their departure. “A promise,” I said simply with a shrug of my arms. “That’s all it is.”
Setting the box down on the table, I could only stare at it. I felt my chest tighten, and it took all my willpower not to burst into tears. I didn’t want them to leave but wanted to go with them. I wanted to join, to fight, and I wasn’t allowed to. I hated them for that, but I couldn’t tell them that. Because while I hated them for it, I still loved them. They were my brother and father, and I wouldn’t let them leave thinking I hated them.
When I was pulled into my father’s embrace, I buried my face into his chest and wrapped my arms around him, my fingers curling into his shirt. I had to make sure I didn’t cry. Turning into a blubbering fool right now was the last thing that needed to happen. I couldn’t make them feel guilty for accepting their draft and leaving to protect our country. Being hunted down was the last thing anyone wanted. If they were lucky to return alive after that, they and any associates would be ostracized. It wasn’t worth ignoring the call.
Answering the call was technically the only option there was.
“Hey,” Jasper started when I pulled back from our dad, reaching out for a hug from me. “You know, if we die, you get a lot of money.”
