Bear approached her and grabbed her wrists. ‘Snap out of it. You start acting crazy, and they’ll put you in Red.’
‘Maybe the Reds all started here.’ The thought was sobering enough to kill the warped smile. She couldn’t turn into Varklee. Although she now felt slightly connected to his show of lunacy.
‘Life is going to throw you some good and proper shit from time to time. You can’t crumble each time it hits you.’
Scarlen scoffed. ‘Oh, you think I don’t know that? You think my life has been all moonlight and roses?’ She slapped her chest, spits of purple splaying out at him. ‘I fucking hate it.’ She yelled to the sky. ‘You hear that? I hate it.’
Bear followed her eyes, then sighed. ‘We need to?—’
Scarlen flopped to the ground and folded her arms defiantly.
‘This isn’t the time for a pity party, Smithson.’
‘I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m just refusing to play the game.’
Crouching, he shook his head. ‘Doesn’t work that way. The game continues until someone dies. And if you don’t get off your ass, it might be you.’ He stood, pointing towards the pond. ‘Now, move.’
A rage burned more than her hand as she stood. ‘And just so you know, I hate you as well.’
‘Well, it certainly makes things simpler.’
Scarlen huffed and mumbled to herself. ‘Oh, what would you know?’
But Bear had heard. ‘What would I know about what? Being stuck in here with a death date hanging over my head? Being fatherless because my father had an accident rushing home while my mother was giving birth to Wyn? Knowing your precious king is inching his way to our land to take the lot? Hearing my mother’s screams every, fucking, night? What don’tI know, eh?’ But before she could reply, he added. ‘All I know is, I’m here with you, trying to save your sorry ass, and having to listen to you bitch about not playing anymore, then telling me you hate me. Well, fuck you too.’ And with that, he stomped away.
Scarlen realised all too late that Bear had the dagger. He also had the raving hump, which she thought a tad dramatic, after all, if he was stuck with her, that was on him. She never asked him to be her friend. He claimed her.This is bullshit!
A rustling noise had her scurry behind some shrubbery as the hail turned to light raindrops, the normal colour of rain, which she hoped would soothe her hand of the constant sting.
It was the Pirate from Amber. His soft footsteps hardly crunched a thing beneath him as he prowled closer, blade in hand, wet and purple-stained from the weather, his fair hair matted, his top torn at the collar, his cool eyes alert.
Scarlen held her breath. If she didn’t have splodges of purple all over her, her green clothes would help camouflage her for sure. She had no idea if he had spotted her before she hid. All she knew was, breathing was now a hazard.
13
The Pirate stared straight at Scarlen’s hideout, a slip of a smirk upon his lips. ‘So there’s the traitor.’
Even with fear rattling her, she stood, angry at his words. ‘I’m not a traitor.’
‘Says the girl fucking a demon.’
‘It’s people like you causing the problems, making divides, wanting us to hate each other, but we don’t all have hate in us, and we shouldn’t be fighting each other when there are wyrmocs on their way.’
‘The north will never stand with any of us, girl. They’re just in our way, and the sooner we deal with them, the stronger we’ll be for the real war when it arrives.’
Scarlen’s blood was boiling at his words, the determination in his glare. ‘We don’t have to be at war now.’
The shine on his dagger momentarily flashed in her eyes as he waved the weapon back and forth. ‘Yes, we do, whether you like it or not, and all traitors must perish in the king’s name.’
I’m sure my father would have something to say about that.Then again, with the way her life was going, perhaps he wouldn’t care at all if some random midlander murdered her in prison.She picked up a rock. It wasn’t much, hardly any size, but it was all she had about her.
The Pirate scrunched his nose in disgust. ‘You’re pathetic.’
There’s no shame in running, she told herself, then threw the rock at his head and darted away, using the trees as guards for her back.
Hard footsteps charged her way, and the rain stopped, making it easier for all to see. For her to see she had found the clearing by the pond.
Scarlen skidded to a halt, her legs trembling from the adrenaline pumping through every fibre of her being. It wasn’t just the lack of cover that had her gasp, it was the sight of Varklee grinding his dagger against a small boulder. The twins to his side.
