Footsteps crunched softly.
“Don’t,” Amelia rasped.
Her voice was wrecked. Like she’d screamed herself raw and the sound had never come back.
I turned my head slightly. She was pushing up onto her elbows, face pale beneath the grime. Her eyes were bloodshot, framed by dark circles that made her look hollow. Like the forest had been taking pieces of her while she slept.
“Don’t what?” I asked, though I already knew.
“Don’t eat that.” She swallowed, winced. “You don’t know what it is.”
My jaw tightened. “I’m aware.”
She dragged herself upright, slow and stiff. “You’re going to poison yourself.”
“And what?” I snapped before I could stop it. “Then you’ll have the woods to yourself? Is that the goal?”
Her eyes flashed. Even half-dead, she still had fight. Still had that bite.
“I don’t want you to die,” she said, voice shaking with anger, like admitting it cost her something.
That hit me harder than it should have.
I hated that it did.
I scoffed, because I didn’t know what else to do with something that felt like kindness. “Yeah, well, that makes one of us.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Stop being an asshole.”
“Stop telling me what to do.”
She took a step toward me and her knees almost buckled. She caught herself on a tree, breathing hard. Pride kept her upright more than muscle.
I stood and shoved the berries back into the bush like they offended me. “Fine. No berries. You got any better ideas, princess?”
The word came out automatic. A habit from being sixteen and cruel and trained to aim for soft spots.
Her flinch was small, but I saw it. I always saw it.
Her gaze hardened. “No, I just don’t trust anything anymore.”
“Not even me?”
“Especially not you.”
Fucking bitch. I looked away first, because if I kept looking at her face I’d see things I didn’t want to see. Not out here. Not when we were this close to the edge.
I turned and started walking.
Behind me, she muttered, “Of course you’re walking. You always just… go.”
I kept my pace steady. “If we stop, we die.”
“We might die anyway,” she shot back, and her footsteps stumbled after mine. “You could atleast admit that.”
“I don’t have time to admit things.”
“Right. God forbid you feel something.”
