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Chapter 23
The rain beat down on us like a storm of relentless wetness. Heavy, thick drops descended mercilessly, soaking through my clothes. I was shivering to my core, my dress clasped to my body like wax to paper. The thick clouds overhead had almost turned the woods pitch-black.
It was awful.
“We’re not far!” Alrick yelled over as another lightning strike illuminated the endless lines of trees. We had been riding all morning in this storm. There wasn’t a place to take shelter, and our hunger forced us to keep moving.
My strength had left me hours ago. I felt weak, my muscles soft and powerless. About an hour or two ago, my vision had become blurry, followed by dizzy spells in which the world would swing left, then right. For the first time, I seriously wondered if I’d make it. It wasn’t the dying part that scared me, though. Strangely, it was more the realization of how little I had actually lived. The few weeks on the road with Alrick had been hard, but they’d opened my eyes. I’d felt alive again like I hadn’t been since my mother had died. I was so grateful for having met Alrick. What he had awoken inside me...feelings I couldn’t have dreamed of ever feeling. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced.
And as another dizzy spell pushed the blurry, rainy path in front of me to the left, then right, then left again, I thought to myself: I would do it all over again—just to be with him for this short while.
My grip on the wet reins loosened beneath my cramped fingers. The world spun more violently now, and I slipped off Fiona.
A hard thumping sound was followed by a ringing in my ears. I knew I had fallen, yet there was no pain.
My eyes blinked as I stared at the muddy forest ground. The way the rain was hitting a puddle next to me almost looked beautiful.
Yes,I thought,I would do it all over again.Only, this time, I would be kinder to my people, prove to my father that there was more to me than the Night Queen. That with a little help, I could be my mother’s daughter. Fearless, strong, andkind.
My thoughts went to Alrick, his pretty smile, the butterflies he created in my stomach whenever he touched me.
Was this love?
The world grew dark around me.
“Alrick,” I heard my weak breath whisper before my words were swallowed by a deep, endless darkness.
