Chapter 2

NORAH’S POV

The guards moved instantly. As they dragged me away, the last thing I saw was my father, not reaching out to save me, but bowing even lower to the King, apologizing for my existence.

I wanted to beg, to cry and plead, but the urge wasn’t there. I thought of how cruel my father was to dig up my mother’s grave just to give the King that precious pendant, the last thing of her and of her lineage.

The chains were cold.

They bit into my wrists and ankles, rubbing my skin raw every time I moved. The wall behind me was wet and rough, and my back ached from leaning against it for so long. I had lost count of the days. Or maybe I just stopped caring.

No one brought me real food anymore. Sometimes they threw a piece of dry bread on the floor. Sometimes nothing at all. My stomach hurts all the time now. It felt hollow, like it was eating itself.

I wondered if they were waiting for me to die here or if they were just keeping me alive long enough to hang me. The thought made my chest tighten.

My throat burned, and my eyes hurt from crying, but no sound came out anymore. I was so tired. Maybe dying here would be easier.

Then I heard footsteps, Slow and heavy.

The prison door creaked open and when i lifted my head, my breath caught.

My father stood there.

My voice broke as soon as I saw him.

“Dad… please help me,” I begged, my hands shaking against the chains as I dragged myself closer. “I don’t want to die here.”

He did not rush to me. He did not touch me. He only looked at me like I was something broken that could not be fixed.

“Whose fault do you think that is?” he asked. “I sit on the council, Norah, but that does not give you the right to speak to the king the way you did.”

“I’m sorry,” I cried quickly, tears running down my face. “I take it back. I’ll apologize. I’ll kneel. I’ll beg. I’ll do anything, Daddy. Please.”

He watched me for a long moment before speaking again. “Marry him,” he said.

My heart stopped.

“No,” I whispered, then louder as panic rushed through me. “No, Daddy, please not that. I beg you. Please. I’ll do anything else.”

He shook his head slowly. “Then you leave me with no choice, Norah.”

My chest hurt so much I could barely breathe.

“I pleaded with the king,” he continued, his voice rising now, bitterly. “I went down on my knees for you, Norah. Something I have never done in my entire life. I humbled myself because of a useless and disrespectful child like you.”

Each word felt like a slap.

“Do you know what I lost because of your foolish mouth?” he went on. “I was meant to become the trade minister. That position was mine. Marrying the king would have secured everything. You would never have suffered. Your children would have lived in comfort.”

He laughed without humor.

“And now?” he said. “I have been stripped of my lands. My properties are gone. My name is stained. The only thing left to me is my seat on the council, and even that hangs by a thread.”

“Daddy,” I sobbed, my body shaking as I pressed my forehead to the cold stone. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

He did not soften.

Instead, he straightened, his face hard, his eyes empty.

“Norah,” he said slowly, clearly, “you have been sentenced to death by hanging today.”

The words fell into the cell like a death bell.

My breath left me in a broken sound, and the world around me faded until there was nothing left but the chains, the dark, and the truth that my own father had just sealed my fate.

He did not leave right away.

He stood there for a moment longer, his shoulders heavy, his face older than I had ever seen it.

“When I pleaded with the king,” he said slowly, “he gave me only one choice.”

Hope rushed into my chest so fast it hurt.

“To have you exiled from this pack,” he continued. “Without my name. Without protection. No pack close to here is allowed to shelter you. Any person who helps you, if the king finds out, will be charged with treason.”

My body began to shake.

“That,” he said, “is the only reason you get to live, Norah. And that is all I can do for you.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Then he turned his back on me and walked out. I was left alone with the worst truth of my life.

So this was my punishment for refusing to marry the king.

I slid down the wall as I cried. How did those women live under his roof? How did they wake every day knowing their bodies did not belong to them?

I shook from head to toe.

I had never left this pack since the day I was born. I did not know the lands beyond the gates. I did not know where to go or how to survive. Fear crowded my head until I could barely think.

Then I heard the cell gates open.

Rough hands grabbed my arms before I could react. A dark cloth was pulled over my head, covering my eyes and face, and I was dragged forward as my feet scraped against the ground. Another guard followed close behind, pushing me whenever I slowed.

We walked for a long time.

I stumbled more than once, my legs weak, my heart racing, until finally we stopped.

The cloth was ripped from my face, but my hands were still bound tightly behind me. I did not know where I was, but I recognized it soon enough.

The border.

The guards holding me stepped back when a third guard lifted his hand, and when I turned my head, my breath caught in my throat.

It was my stepbrother.

“Danny,” I sobbed softly, tears spilling down my face as my knees trembled. “Please help me. You have friends. Anyone. Please.”

He shook his head slowly, pain written all over his face.

“Anyone who helps you is dead if the king finds out,” he said quietly. “They’ve ordered a quiet kill, Norah. Without Dad’s knowledge. By dawn, they’ll come looking for you and return with your head.”

My world tilted.

“I tried,” he whispered. “There is nothing else I can do.” He leaned closer to me, his voice low, like he was afraid the night itself might hear him.

“You have to run,” he said. “Far away, as fast as you can. Follow the moon and do not stop, no matter how tired you feel, no matter how much your legs burn, just keep going.”

“You’ll reach the Great Wall.”

“I don’t know the Great Wall,” I cried, my chest shaking as tears fell freely. “Danny, I don’t know it.”

He lifted his hands and held my face gently, wiping my tears with his thumbs like he used to when we were younger.

“I cannot explain it to you,” he said softly. “Even if I tried, you would not understand it now, but when you see it, you will know, Norah. Your heart will know.”

Then his voice hardened, and his eyes filled with fear.

“This is not the time to cry,” he said. “This is the time to be strong and bold. If you are not, you will die.”

I broke then and hugged him as tightly as I could, pressing my face into his chest.

“Please don’t leave me here,” I sobbed. “Please.”

He held me for only a moment before pulling back.

“I am not leaving you,” he said firmly. “I am sending you away so you can live, and for that to happen, you must run.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small folded letter, pressing it into my hands.

“Give this to the leader when you get there,” he said. “His name is Lord Draven. Tell him I sent you. Do not speak to anyone else. Only him.”

My voice trembled. “How will I know him?”

Danny swallowed before answering.

“He has one blue eye and one black eye,” he said. “His hair is dark like a raven’s wing,

“There is one more thing you need to know,” Danny said quietly, his voice heavy. “That place is only for men. Women are not allowed there. That is all you need to know.”

My heart dropped.

“You must protect your identity at all cost,” he continued. No one finds out who you are ever.

He pushed a bundle of clothes into my hands. “Take these. Wear them.”

Before I could speak, he pulled a sharp knife from his pocket, and with shaking hands, he cut my hair. Locks of it fell to the ground, and I watched them disappear into the dirt, like the last pieces of the girl I used to be.

I changed into the clothes he gave me, my hands trembling as I pulled them on, and when I stood there dressed like a stranger, I knew something inside me had ended.

He looked at me one last time, his voice breaking. “It will be a long journey,” he said. “But you must run, Norah. Run fast. And whatever you do…”

His hands tightened on my shoulders.

“Do not look back.”

The gates opened behind me.

I ran.

I ran with everything I had in me, my lungs burning, my legs screaming, my heart pounding so loud it filled my ears, and I did not turn back even once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Voices drifted around me, distant and broken. Though my body felt like lead against the cold floor, I could still hear them, but I couldn't move. My breath was shallow, caught between hanging on and letting go.

Suddenly, a shock of ice-cold water hit my face.

I bolted up, gasping, my lungs burning as I clawed for air like a drowning woman.

“Thought you were dead,” a rough voice said above me.

Another deep voice ordered. “Drag him up. We need more boys.”

Boys?

The word echoed in my head as fear rushed through me.

Boys for what?