Page 51 of Coal Hearts

They shouldn’t affect me, but they did. My stomach fluttered. My heart skipped. And Henri destroyed my world by whispering, “Twenty, nineteen, eighteen...”

“Wait, no, I—”

“If you’re going to run. I suggest you go. Now.” He glowered beneath his brows. “Seventeen, sixteen...”

I bolted.

I ran as if wolves sprang from the castle and snapped at my heels.

My hands fisted as I forced my legs to race faster than they ever had before. I ran and ran, charging down the airstrip, needing to peer around the corner of the walled castle.

Maybe there was a village behind it.

An entire town with normal people. Citizens who had no idea what went on in the fortress by the sea.

“Thirteen, twelve.” Henri’s voice boomed behind me, chasing me, nipping me, hunting me. “Eleven, ten...”

Go.

Fucking run, Ily!

Wind gusted past my ears as I threw everything I had into escaping. I ran for days; I ran for years, yet the size of the castle walls never shrank. My heels sank into the soft grass. My skirt flounced around my legs. My braless breasts bounced and hurt.

I forced myself to ignore every pain and shut down every terror.

I flew.

“Five, four!”

Go.

Dammit, run!

“Three, two...”

My heart almost burst in my chest.

“One.”

Threatening silence hovered in the wave-crashing air.

My neck prickled, and every instinct howled to turn around and look behind me. To find the threat. To watch him chase. But those instincts were wrong. They would get me killed.

Run.

Go.

Go!

Go!

I panted as I gave everything I was to speed.

My ears rang.

My thighs burned.

The end of the wall shimmered like a mirage, teasing me, mocking me with its impossible distance.