Her Dark Nemesis (The Gates of Fortorus #3) - Felicity Brandon Page 0,1
what waited for us beyond the gates of Fortorus, but whatever it was, we would take our chances. We were young and resourceful—we got this far, and we would get out of here. We would survive.
“I’m not going to ask how you know all that.” She wiped the tears from her eyes with the heel of her hand. “One day, you have to tell me.”
“Okay, deal.” I offered her a small smile. “One day, I will, when we’re warm, fed, and sitting around a roaring fire.”
She laughed softly. “You always were a fucking dreamer, Craness.”
“You’re right,” I agreed, climbing to my feet before I helped her to her full height. “Are you going to be okay?” I gestured to her injuries. “With your back, I mean?”
“Sure,” she said with a sigh. “The wounds are dressed, and they gave me rounds of drugs. They have to have helped, right?”
My lips twitched at her stoicism. “Right,” I concurred.
“I have you to thank for that, don’t I?” Her gaze bore into me as I lowered to pick up the flashlight. “The hospital and the treatment. That was due to you, wasn’t it? They would never tell me, but I mean, it can’t be a coincidence. The same night you head out for treatment and don’t return, I’m the first prisoner to be carted off to the hospital.”
“Don’t say that,” I whispered. “Don’t ever say that. You’re neither a prisoner nor a criminal. None of us have done anything wrong.”
“Except be born without a cock, you mean?” She chuckled, shaking her head before her attention returned to me. “It was you, Caroline. I’m right, aren’t I?”
I sighed, and as the air escaped my lips, some of the tension I’d been carrying seemed to slip away. “Yes, that was me, but please, let’s not get into it now. We have to go. We have to reach the boundary before the morning light.”
“Okay.” Fern reached for my left hand, giving it a squeeze. “Okay, let’s go, but whatever you did, whatever you went through to make that happen… thank you.” She blinked at me, all wide-eyes and pale skin until a semblance of the frozen organ that used to be my heart thawed deep inside.
“Enough of this mushy shit,” I mumbled, embarrassed by my response. “Let me take that pack for you, then we’re gone.”
“It’s fine,” she countered, batting away my hand as it reached for the rucksack. “It’s not a problem.”
“Not a problem, my ass!” I told her, wandering around her body to take in the sheer size of the thing. “Whatever you have in there is rubbing right against your wounds. Please, just let me carry it. We can take it in turns if you like?”
She glanced over her shoulder, meeting my gaze. “Really?”
I smiled. “Of course,” I assured the pretty elfin woman standing before me. “I put my neck on the line for you already, haven’t I? I reckon I can carry a pack a few miles.”
She sniffed, shrugging the pack from her petite shoulders. “Thank you,” she said in a tiny voice. “It doesn’t weigh a ton, but I saw a chance to grab a few essentials, and well, I seized it.”
“You did better than me,” I answered, flinging the pack onto my back. “All I managed was this get-up.”
I shone the light over Harper’s jacket briefly before directing it toward the incline we needed to climb.
“That looks like one of the commander’s uniforms,” she whispered as we turned and started the hike up the damp grass. “Do I even want to know how you managed to get your hands on those clothes?”
“Maybe not.” I flicked off the flashlight to avoid unwanted attention as we scrambled against the grass. The pack pulled against me, but I was glad to be taking the brunt of it as if the added burden could sanitize the guilt still threatening to drown me. I had no idea how I was ever going to justify the things I’d done with Harper to Fern. No clue how she could forgive me the meals, the showers, the comfortable bed, or the scintillating sex. No way I could justify my behavior. “It’s not a pretty story.”
“Well, that’s a switch,” she snorted, turning her face toward me. “And so far, Fortorus has been such a bright, cheery tale. I was expecting a happy ending.”
I grinned into the darkness. “Yeah, right. There’s no such thing as a happily ever after in the new regime. You just have to choose your poison.”