AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Where are they?I demand.How could anyone do this?
I don’t know.She looks up at me with those eyes that can see right to the core of me.Please, can we... can we get out of here?
I’ll destroy them,I think to her, hard.I will end them for what they’ve done to you.
She shakes her head furiously.No. I want to go. I want to leave this place and never look back.
As much as I desire revenge, she doesn’t want that. She wants to be free, and I understand that feeling more than any other.
Holding her to my hip with her legs wrapped around my waist, I turn back the way I came, sprinting at my full speed. When we reach the main room, the sound of a gun deafens me.
A man is shouting something behind us. I turn around, right as another shot rings out. A searing agony tears through my arm, and I almost drop Rimi. There’s a man in strange, fine clothes holding a long gun I’ve never seen before.
He yells at me, but I can’t understand it. I don’t need to. I lunge towards him, grabbing the barrel of the gun in my hand just as he fires it again. The shot flies over my shoulder, into a chandelier high up overhead. I twist the barrel, with all the strength I have in my injured arm, and the gun snaps. The man’s eyes are huge and terrified as I tower over him, hurling the gun off to one side. I could kill him right now without much extra effort.
He turned his own child over to monsters for a profit, to be used how they saw fit.
Father!Rimi reaches for him.Please, Lo’zar! Don’t do it.
My fury ebbs just a little, and I shove the man hard, knocking him down. Then I turn away and my long legs carry us out the front door, into the sunshine.
The carriage is still waiting. I sprint back, holding Rimi with my good arm, and jump inside. The driver is wide-eyed.
Tell him to go, I say.Tell him to take us back to the ship.
Rimi says something to the man as I set her down in the carriage next to me, and soon we’re galloping away, leaving this terrible place behind.
Chapter24
Rimi
I’m still in shock when we reach the city. It doesn’t make sense that my parents could have seen me as currency, an object to be sold to the highest bidder. Love was scarce in our home, but that didn’t mean I was disposable.
And now, I have nothing left. Nothing but my troll.
Lo’zar holds me close to his side, his illusion restored, even though his arm is bleeding. The driver squeezes himself into the corner as far as he can and doesn’t speak to us, and once he deposits us at our destination, he seems immensely grateful to be rid of us.
We have to sell Lo’zar’s last ring for enough coin for both of us to return on the ship, which hasn’t departed yet. It will leave in the morning, once the rest of the passengers have arrived. I buy a few medical supplies so I can treat the shallow wound on his arm, and we board.
Once we’re safe in our cabin, I start to break apart. I shed every last tear left in my body, trying to wash off the sting of betrayal. My home, my family, everything I’ve ever known is gone.
Lo’zar just holds me as the sobs wrack my body. When there’s nothing left, I curl up at his side.
I’m sorry,is all he says.
* * *
I have a long time to recover on our journey. I don’t want to talk about my old life—all I want is to imagine my new one, where I could go now that I know there’s nothing holding me back.
They’re dead to me.
Where can we possibly go?I ask Lo’zar.Where Gusak won’t be looking for you?
He sighs.I don’t know. As we saw in Kalishagg, he has eyes everywhere.The only place we’ve been safe has been out on the open ocean.
Whatever we do, we have to be able to survive. Make a living. I have no skills, no knowledge, no craftsmanship. At least Lo’zar can steal to get by, but I’m not a sneak thief. I’m just a drain.
Hey.Lo’zar captures my chin in his hand, and leans down to peck me on the lips. It feels good and familiar and right.We can figure this out. I’ll do whatever I have to do to take care of you.
