Chapter Twenty-Five
The Unmarked, Book One
[Ch.1] [Ch.2] [Ch.3] [Ch.4] [Ch.5] [Ch.6] [Ch.7] [Ch.8] [Ch.9] [Ch.10] [Ch.11] [Ch.12] [Ch.13] [Ch.14] [Ch.15] [Ch.16] [Ch.17] [Ch.18] [Ch.19] [Ch.20] [Ch. 21] [Ch.22] [Ch.23] [Ch.24]
River
What he’d hoped for?
Tears of gratitude. Passionate kisses. The type of thing that any man would want to happen when alone in a dark room in the middle of the night with the woman that set his heart on fire with burning desire, after six lonely, desperate, heart-aching weeks away from her.
What he’d expected? A long hug, a smile, and a comment that went along the lines of “couldn’t stay away, could you?”
What he’d not expected was being threatened by – what he observed – was a battered and beaten Dawn inside a room that smelled like feces, sitting at the foot of the bed of her sister who was gagged.
Oh, and Dawn didn’t even seem to care that she’d almost sliced his throat open.
He stood there, waiting for her to say something.
“She has some kind of…” Dawn searched for the word, “curse.”
A curse. People in Erom didn’t believe in curses. Being plagued by an inherited or imposed evil didn’t make any sense. Curses were used as an excuse by the weak to justify their failure.
“Why would you say that?”
She looked up at him, her expression grim. “We were in the Rayless Woods” she said, as if that would explain everything.
It did, in a way.
“They appeared out of nowhere” she continued. “One moment we were resting on the side of the Member’s Highway, the next, we were in the Shadow Re- The Woods. We made a run for it, but not before something happened to Scarlet. She gets these terrible nightmares, she can’t go out into the sun, and she has seizures. She doesn’t eat, she barely sleeps…it’s a miracle that she’s unconscious right now”.
The prospect planted a seed of terror inside of him. The Rayless Woods were spreading, something that hadn’t happened since the Shadow Ages. River wondered why they were suddenly spreading again, and how long before they consumed everything?
Since childhood, he had learned that the Rayless Woods were evil and that anyone who ventured inside would never return.
Dawn had returned, but at the cost of her sister’s health and sanity.
He watched Dawn. Only six weeks apart, and yet, she had experienced things that changed her. This was not the girl who he had kissed on the night of the Festival. This was a girl who spoke of miracles and curses. Who doubted those who were closest to her.
And that terrified him.
“Where’s your friend?” he caught himself asking. He didn’t know why. This was not an appropriate time.
“What?”
“Your friend… Wolfe. I know you two have been travelling together. Where is he?”
Anger clouded Dawn’s face, and he immediately regretted having asked the question.
“He’s gone”.
“Why were you two travelling together?” He dared ask.
“I don’t know!” she erupted, “he helped me escape from the prison your father put me in, he travelled around with me, and then he just left me in Ardus. Disappeared. Gone. Does that make you feel better, River? Will you stop being jealous?”
River’s anger was replaced by shock. “Prison? What do you mean my father put you in prison?”
Dawn let out a humorless laugh. “The bastard didn’t tell you, did he?”
River shook his head and went to kneel in front of her. “What happened after the night of the Festival, Dawn?”
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