AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why?”
“As a way to say goodbye, and return them from where they came from. I was thinking maybe you could do the same thing for your parents. Let them go. Let them move on so you can move on too.”
“I’m not sure I can do that.” Tears shimmered in his eyes. It was the first time he didn’t feel embarrassed to show me his deepest emotions. His tenderness.
His weakness.
I placed a hand to his cheek and looked him in the eye. “You can do anything, Nighteko. You’re so strong. I know it’s difficult to let go. Once you do, most of the sadness eventually leaves. Then you’re left with the happy memories. And you’ve focused on the sadness for much too long.”
The sickness had every bit as much effect on him as his sadness. It poisoned his mind, his memories. Just as the sickness was leaving his body, so I would make this poison affecting his memories disappear too.
His history made my heart ache for him. I leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. Then I kissed him on the cheek. When he turned to me, he must have seen the lust in my eyes. I saw it reflected in his.
When Maisie died, I needed intimacy. I needed to be with someone. And now, I felt certain he needed it too.
He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me full on the lips. It was passionate and I returned it to him tenfold. He lifted me and carried me to the hard stone bed.
He laid me down and unbuttoned my shirt so my breasts hung free. He tasted them, licking, before pushing my pants down and sliding inside me.
I groaned as he filled me. He took his anger, his pain, and his sadness out on me.
And then I demanded more.
6
NIGHTEKO
The boat ground to a halt and woke me up. Peering up at the sky, I saw the clouds weren’t moving very fast. Not like they usually did when I was in a boat. I peered over the side and noticed we’d come to a stop somewhere beside the jungle.
I peered up into my mother’s face. Her eyes were closed and she looked very pale. I reached up with my hands. I started back, confused.
Her skin was cold. It somehow felt wrong, even then as a young child. “Mom?” I said. “Mom?”
She slumped forward and I had to move quickly to keep her from falling on top of me. Sticking out of her back were two arrows. Her dress was red where they hit her.
“Mom?” I said, gently prodding her. “Get up.”
She didn’t move. Sometimes she was a heavy sleeper, so I shook her harder.
“Mom?” I said. “Get up.”
My tears were so hot they burned the back of my throat. She was never going to wake up. Even at that tender age, I knew that. And still, I refused to believe it. I needed to get help. If I was fast, maybe a doctor could save her.
I ran into the jungle and tripped on a pair of furrows that ran like train tracks along the ground. Ahead, a man crouched at a wheel of his cart. He spun a piece of wood, locking it in place.
“Excuse me!” I said, trotting up to him. “I need your help! My mom…”
He followed me to the boat and shook his head. “I’m sorry,” was all he said, before shoving the boat off the shore and letting the water take her.
“You’re going to come with me now,” the man said. “I don’t have much food so you’re going to have to pull your weight to earn it.”
I did everything he asked, from carrying buckets of water from distant wells to feeding his plants and jungle creatures he caught in traps.
And when we got to the city, he headed straight for the fighting pits and handed me over to them. I remembered he was angry at the price, grumbling about how much food I ate, but he accepted the money, turned, and never said another word to me.
My life only got worse from there.
Alice said I should choose somewhere I had happy memories. I chose a clearing on the outskirts of the Titan village, free of smashed huts and charred bones. The sun crested the jungle, its light glinting off the early morning dew. It was a field I often played when I was young.
