I hum my agreement and silence blankets us.
With my eyes closed and the sweet scent in the air, I feel like I’m basking in the sun.
Near the trailer park, there was a meadow, one filled with pretty wild flowers where people used to gather for picnics and parties. I was never jealous of being left out, I was jealous of the freedom. Not of them, of the flowers. Being here, relaxing under his touch, it’s exactly what I imagine it to feel like to be a wild flower. The tension evaporates from my limbs with every second that passes.
As he moves on to my legs, he clears his throat. “Before you arrived at the Shadow Realm, I had a vision,” he explains, and I gnaw at my bottom lip.
“Is that what the despair was from?” I ask, only to be greeted with silence for a few moments before he replies.
“And I thought you couldn't read my emotions,” he states, making my breath catch in my throat, and I shake my head.
“I couldn't sense that. It's just what I could see in your eyes.”
His hands still. “I promise you, Elodie, nobody else would be able to see that,” he explains. “But yes, you're right. That's what I was struggling with before you arrived.”
“What was the vision?” I dare to ask as his hands continue to work my limbs.
“It was Odie,” he answers, and my heart lurches in my chest. “It was the moment he saw my father dead on the floor. My mind was warped with the sound of his sobs. I'm unsure if I would’ve cried quite as hard myself, but he did, and then he never gave up fighting. But I need you to know, Elodie, that he's in there—in Jude’s realm—as a sacrifice, but his sacrifice isn't for you,” he states, and I frown,but I don't need to question him. He just needs a moment to gather his words. “He is in there for me. Whatever he has experienced in those walls is for me, toprotectme, because somebody told him that was of greater importance than seeking vengeance in my father’s name.” He clears his throat, his voice croaky. “I don't doubt that your mother is there for you, though. I don't want you to think that there's no love there?—”
I shake my head. “Thorne, that was never my assumption,” I explain, my gaze meeting his, and I don't relax until I'm sure he understands it.
As his shoulders relax, I get comfortable again.
“Somebody told him to make the vow. Somebody told him to sacrifice something else to keep them away from me. They knew where I was, and they never came because of him.” His words grow thicker, weighted and devastating.
“Dare I ask who that was?” I gulp. When he doesn't answer immediately, I'm drawn to him, making sure my eyes are latched on to his again. Only then do his lips part.
“It was Rikard,” he admits, and my jaw falls slack.
“Rikard, as in The Sanctum, Rikard?” I clarify, and he nods. “So why is he with The Sanctumnow?” I blurt, and he shrugs, clearly in the dark as much as I am.
“I don't know, but I'm certain we're going to find out. It seems when we put our minds to anything as a team, we figure it out one way or another,” he explains, and I hum my agreement again, unable to find the right words.
“I’m sorry, Echo. I was supposed to help you relax and now I'm just laying more trouble on you,” he mumbles, doubling his efforts on my calves.
“Thorne, I'm good, I promise. Besides, you can break me whenever you like if this is what I get in return,” I muse, and a moment later, I feel the delicate press of his lips against my spine.
“Breaking you will never be my intention, Echo,” he whispers, his lips dragging across my skin.
“That was hot as fuck, Thorne,” I admit, not entirely sure which part I’m actually referring to, and he huffs a laugh.
“Don't forget it,” he murmurs, and I bask in the air of contentment that swarms around me, a feeling I never truly thought I would get the opportunity to embrace. Yet here I am, sinking in it right along with him.
Looking over my shoulder once more, our eyesconnect, heat blazing between us, but as his lips part, the blaring sound of a siren goes off. My spine stiffens and the air changes. The sexual tension melts into raw rigidness as Thorne finds the words that echo around the room, rattling in my brain as they take weight in me.
“It's time for the games.”
It's insanely frustrating to feel such fear and panic while trying to remain calm, especially when I asked for this. Well, what I hope will come from this. But since we haven’t had any contact with Kael, I don't know if our plan is coming to fruition or not. All I know is that goddamn siren will not stop. It feels like it’s pulsating in my mind.
With a sword in my hand, an axe-wielding wolf to my left, Thorne with his dark, cloudy magic on my right, and Ocean braced with a bow and arrow, it seems we're going to face off with it regardless.
The reality is, as much as we planned for them to come, we didn't really figure out further details beyond that. But it doesn't matter. Having found the trove of the scythes, I know I can handle myself better now.
Do I know all of it yet? No.
Have I delved deeper into what's available? No, again, but one thing I have found is how to ground myself. Not just in the moment, like my mother's words told me to, but among Thorne, Rion, Ocean, and hopefully Kael.
I can sense it inside of me. I feel different since leaving that vault. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I know it’s for the better.
