Today, I don’t want to do anything strenuous, so I shower again and go to a store three towns over, where no one knows me or will ask where I’ve been or what happened to Bard. When I get home, I eat like I’ve never eaten before. Cake, pasta, chicken, apples, ice cream, and a big spinach salad. I’m a thousand times hungrier than I was yesterday. I think my body is finally waking up after being under the spell of Benicio for so long.
I bundle up in my red winter coat and take a short walk in the forest to help with my indigestion—overdid it with the cake. I soak in the cool winter air that’s crisp and clean and smells like a world that’s filled with life and hope. To me, that smells like moist leaves. It’s the scent of a forest about to awaken into spring.
Along the path, I come up on my big tree and stop. The dirt around it’s been disturbed.
Oh, Dave. You piece of shit. He was so damned pathetic, but he had his moments, too. He was the first to befriend me in college and never judged me for being a small-town girl on her own in a city for the first time. He actually made me feel normal.
Honestly, I just couldn’t ever figure him out. What made him such a cheater or so obsessed with his image? Why was he drawn to me when I was nothing like him? Either way, he had his good side, and he was there for me when I needed help. He wasn’t a great man, but he didn’t deserve to be torn apart like that.
I think of Bard and his horrific pale face without eyes or a real mouth. Why would he come here and do that to Dave? He always hated him, so maybe he felt he was protecting me.
“Lake!” Gabrio’s voice calls out.
I turn and spot him coming through the trees, his long blond hair catching the late morning sunlight. He has a worried expression.
My stomach flips. “What happened?”
“You will need to sit down for this.” He gestures toward a fallen tree with a thick trunk.
No more. Please. “Nothing is worse than what I’ve been through, so just tell me.”
It takes a moment, but he spits it out. “The Mountain People and the Blood King have retreated from the wall.”
“That sounds good.” It means our plan worked.
He rubs his brows. “They have Alwar.”
Not good. I walk over to the fallen tree and sit.
He comes over to join me. “Our people attacked and flanked the Mountain People. They began to scatter and withdraw, knowing the tide was turning against them. They focused on taking Alwar instead. Seems they were prepared, too, with wagons to carry him off. I imagine it was part of their battle plan on the Blood King’s orders.”
These people were losing and dragged Alwar away. “But why not kill him?” The citizens of Monsterland love killing.
“He would be martyred. He is still revered among many of the kingdoms.”
“So what will the Mountain People do with him?”
“The Blood King wants them to trade him. For you.”
“Me?”
He picks at a piece of bark to his side. “You are now Alwar’s wife,” he says, not sounding too enthusiastic about it. “If the Blood King takes you, the kingdoms who support Alwar will turn on him. Alwar will be shamed for failing to protect you and losing his wife to Benicio.”
“You mean when Benicio kills me.”
Gabrio nods and flicks the bark with his fingers. He’s agitated. I can see it.
“Or worse,” he says.
And of course, I would allow it. I would let Benicio do anything to me. Not because I want to end my life or lack self-respect, but because I wouldn’t be able to stop him. One bite, and I’m done for. Even being in the same room puts me under his spell. I will want him more than I’ll want to breathe.
“I can’t go to him, Gabrio. I can’t do it. You know what he’ll do to me.”
“I do.” He nods and rests his strong hands in his lap, lacing his thick fingers together. “The Proxy Vow is over. At least for now. And we need Alwar to negotiate the alliances with the other kingdoms. He is the only one the other kings will trust not to stab them in the back. And we must act quickly—before the Blood People attack again.”
“They’re coming to the wall?”
“Of course. And this time, the Blood King will bring all his men, his allies’ men, and every monster who supports tearing down the wall.”
I swallow a lump in my throat. “How many is that?”
“Half the kingdoms.”
Bad. Very bad. There are over ten trillion creatures in their world. Yes, many are pebble size, but I wouldn’t discount a single monster for that. They’ve evolved in a culture of war. Trolls, for example, are as big as a grain of rice, but they wield machetes and swarm their pray like fire ants.