“As for everything else...” I let out a quiet breath, “I suppose that’s something I can endure.”
I tilted my head slightly, trying to mask the ache, though every nerve screamed.
It hurt.
Badly.
But showing it—letting him see—would be shameful.
Unacceptable. I had to hide it.
Inside, something screamed.
Loud. Raw. Uncontrolled.
I’d never dated.
Never kissed anyone before that poisoned kiss at the altar seven days ago.
Never held hands in the rain.
Never shared a bed.
Never whispered ridiculous promises at three in the morning with someone who actually meant them.
The fourteen hours in that cave... those had been everything.
Me, pressing rags to his bleeding thigh while my hands shook.
Him, gripping my wrist like I was the only thing tethering him to the world.
Two children. Terrified. Clinging to each other in the dark because there was nothing else to cling to.
That was where it started.
That was where everything I’d ever wanted had begun.
No food. No music. No future.
Just a single, fragile promise:
I’ll find you again.
I’ll keep you safe.
We’ll be together when we’re grown.
He had been my first light.
My first hope.
My first secret.
And now... he had found me, only to chain me in shadow.
“Good,” he said. “Keep your head down here.”
A pause. “The instructors are brutal. The other recruits will test you. Don’t give them an opening.”
