AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You,” she whispered, shoulders caving. But as soon as that lone word left her mouth, the rest came flooding out, “I had to tell them everything I knew about you. What you do, what you think, your reactions, your wants, your hopes, your dreams. The Zavorians must know you’re a spy, because I can’t explain it–”
Taryn hummed low in his throat, but said nothing else. “Anything else?”
Leah wracked her brain, thinking back to that awful, awful night. She’d been so scared, shaking in front of Nana’s hospital bed, burly men staring her down like she was nothing, and demanding she sell her soul to save Nana’s.
There was one thing she hadn’t really understood.
“Something called a blaze?” she said. Had Flint called it that or had she misheard from the roar echoing in her ears in that still room?
The symbols on Taryn’s brow ridge furrowed, but he said nothing else.
“They wanted me to tell them about you and that blaze and how you reacted and–I tried to ask you things, but my throat seized up every time because I couldn’t…I couldn’t betray you and I couldn’t betray Nana, and I’m sorry,” she said, on the verge of pleading. “So, so sorry. I should have never agreed to it, but I was so desperate. I didn’t tell them anything.”
The tears had already crowded her voice, which was starting to crack and shiver. It was painful. It literally hurt Leah to acknowledge what she’d agreed to.
“It doesn’t sound like you agreed to it,” Taryn said, finally.
Leah sniffled, still not daring to look at him. His energy had gone completely still. “What do you mean? I’m here, Nana got the first shipment of treatment–”
“Because you were forced into doing that. So save your relative’s life. That is not agreeing, that is–I believe and my translator seems to sustain that–black-mail.”
Leah blinked the tears away. “It is, but I could’ve said no.”
“And let your grandmother die.”
Leah nodded.
“That is not saying no. That is being punished because you were desperate,” Taryn said, his voice rough.
He might paint the situation however he wanted to, but Leah still didn’t see it like that. She was here, standing in front of him, knowing Nana was safe–for at least a few more days–because she’d given that scared, jittery nod that night. She hadn’t even been able to say the words out loud.
But now it was out in the open. She couldn’t take it back, but there was one thing she could hope for. “Do you forgive me?”
Taryn let go of her hands. Leah’s heart filled with ice, for just one breath, until his palms gently cradled her face. Gently, he tilted her chin up, her gaze slowly rising to his. What she saw in his eyes took her breath away.
No judgment–only appreciation.
“There is nothing to forgive,” he said, his warm breath ghosting across her lips. “You bargained information with a stranger to save your loved one’s life. And you didn’t provide said information.”
“I didn’t even get it.” Leah smiled through the tears. “I would be a lousy spy.”
A smile twisted Taryn’s lips as well. “I can teach you how to be a great one, if you’d like.”
“No, no. I have other dreams.”
“What are those?”
She took a deep inhale. The truth? She owed that. But this was her talking about her ideals, her wants and hopes. “Save Nana.”
She was on Earth, all alone. She was sure Flint wouldn’t harm her–he wouldn’t risk bringing that much attention to whatever strings he was trying to pull behind the scenes. And if anything happened to Nana, he would lose the hold he had on Leah.
But the medication could be delayed just enough for Nana to suffer.
Leah couldn’t let that happen.
“We will,” Taryn said, serious and calm. “Do you know the hospital she is in?”
Leah nodded, apprehensive.
