AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Only, I didn’t feel unsafe with Ro. I liked having her hands on me. For that brief second, I felt invincible.
Powerful.
Right.
I’d give anything to go back to that moment so I could redo it. Instead of pulling away, I’d stand my ground. I’d let her soft fingers rub my arms, and I’d love every second of it.
The chance for that is gone, though.
I ruined it.
Since then, I’ve been trying to sneak a dutiful touch that I can excuse as part of my job. Putting the socks on her was unexpectedly sensual. Passing her the dagger was divine.
I want to give her all my clothes and weapons. Disarm myself just so I can feel the silkiness of her skin while I run my hands up her legs. Soak up the sensation of her warm palm against mine.
However, I’d be a fool to think I have a chance with Ro. These innocent moments are all I’ll ever get with her, and I can accept that because she deserves someone better than me. Someone as beautiful as she is.
I glance down at my gorgeous companion.
She’s focused on the trail ahead with bravery in her eyes, but there’s concern in the brown pools, too.
“I thought we were supposed to stay inside the maze,” Ro says as we head toward the final exit.
When Armand told me his maze is complicated and vast, I didn’t understand what he meant. I’d assumed we’d be completing the challenges inside these walls but apparently, I was mistaken.
We’ve visited every dead end. We’ve explored all the nooks and crannies.
Unfortunately, or fortunately—I can’t decide—the destinations have been uneventful, and now we have nowhere else to go but out.
“Armand said we have to be inside the maze when we announce the end of a challenge,” I specify, reading between the lines of his trickery. “He never said we wouldn’t be leaving it.”
“But where will we go? Back to his castle? He said it was ‘too messy.’” Ro does air quotes with her fingers and makes her voice deeper to mock the overlord.
I almost smile.
I find myself wanting to do that a lot with her, but I refrain. Happy expressions only enhance my disfigurement because of the worst scar down my face. When I got that injury, it damaged the muscles in my left cheek, and my lips don’t lift fully, making my smile lopsided.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” I say cryptically because I don’t have answers right now.
We’ve been in this maze for well over an hour, and absolutely nothing has happened.
Honestly, it’s fucking with my head.
I’m not normally this uneasy on missions, but fear of the unknown is getting to me. I can’t assess a threat if I don’t know what it is, and the unpredictability puts me at a disadvantage.
Once we’re about thirty feet away from the exit, a yellow glow radiates from the opening.
I squint because it’s getting brighter by the second, and I feel a bit of relief because this means we’re headed in the right direction.
“Finally,” I grunt.
Apparently, Ro doesn’t share my sentiment. With obvious apprehension in her shaky voice, she murmurs, “Light like that doesn’t exist in the Lost Land.”
“No, it does not.” Arming my other hand with a machete, I glance up at the sky.
The gray cast above us doesn’t match the blinding light ahead. It’s almost like the exit is a portal to another world.
Next, changes start happening to the bushes.
