Chapter 6

My eyes had already grown more accustomed to the darkness, yet it was becoming harder and harder to go on, and I couldn’t remember which trail he had taken. I was nearly unconscious, hanging upside down, being carried by him against my will.

Rain poured down around me in a torrent, a storm rumbled overhead, the sound of thunder growing louder and louder as I ran through the forest.

“Damn it, how am I supposed to find the way back?” I muttered to myself.

I stopped near a tree, leaning on it for support while I caught my breath. My clothes were drenched, and I was beginning to feel the biting cold. My hands were freezing, and I wrapped my arms around myself, glancing around, trying to figure out which way I should go.

Would he be able to find me? It had to be difficult to follow my scent through this rain, so I had the advantage—unless I was already lost.

I ran my hands over my face, trying to wipe away the excess water that blurred my vision. The moment I moved forward, I stepped onto soft ground, and before I realized where I was, I tumbled down the slope, rolling as I screamed in desperation.

I kept falling, my body scraping and being pierced by sharp rocks and jagged branches, until I felt a hand grab mine.

I looked up—it was Marius, clinging to a rock with one hand while holding on to me with the other.

“We’re going to die! We’re going to die!” I screamed, because the fall was far too great and I couldn’t even see the ground.

“We’re not! Stay still!” he growled, and I could see how hard it was for him to hold on to the rock.

The rain was still pouring around us, making everything harder, but slowly, Marius managed to pull us up, and I collapsed into the mud, struggling to breathe properly.

My heart pounded erratically, while my mind seemed to slow down, unable to believe I had actually made it up. I couldn’t even feel the cuts that surely covered my body—I could only think about the fact that I was alive.

I looked up at Marius, standing there with his wet hair plastered to his forehead, his chest rising and falling as he breathed heavily, his hands scratched and bruised, surely from when he had climbed part of the slope to help me.

His expression was impassive, and because of that, I stood up.

“Marius, thank you, you saved my—”

“I only saved you because I need to find someone. This has nothing to do with you,” he cut me off, shouting over the rain.

I considered pushing him down the slope, but he had saved my life, even if he didn’t care about it.

Marius grabbed me by the arm, dragging me back toward the house as the rain poured over us. I didn’t fight him, too tired to resist.

Too cold to refuse the warmth of the cabin, I let Marius hold on to my arm and drag me along.

His hand was warm, his grip firm, and he walked with determination.

When we finally reached the cabin, I breathed a sigh of relief, already thinking about the warmth inside—but to my surprise, the man turned and stared at me.

“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” he shouted over the rain.

What?

“Let’s go inside.”

Marius stepped closer, his eyes darker, his wet hair plastered to his forehead, as he asked through clenched teeth:

“Aren’t you afraid of what I could do to you right now for disobeying me like that?”

I stared back at him, feeling my energy return as I was confronted that way.

“You really think I would agree to stay here with you for a year, waiting for you to free me after I find the person you’re looking for?” I shouted back.

Marius lunged forward abruptly, gripping my face by the chin and squeezing it hard.

“What I think is that you believe that just because I’ve made it clear I won’t kill you, you can talk to me like that and even deceive me—but you’re terribly mistaken.”

I had felt fear of Marius from the very second he appeared and tore those men apart so effortlessly, but the fact that he’d said he needed me alive had changed things.

It made it easier for me to plan the right moments to escape.

The rain was still pouring down around us as Marius dragged me back to the house, the two of us soaking the wooden floor.

He held my arm in a tight grip, even though I had no intention of running. The man dragged me to the room where I was kept locked up and shoved me inside.

I watched from a corner, curled up, as he stripped the room of every blanket and piece of cloth.

I stared at Marius in disbelief as he did it.

I was drenched, shivering from the cold, and he was taking away the blankets and cloth I needed the most!

Wretched, devilish, and cruel.