Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
FOREST
Camila handed both Darius and me a knife and cast us out into the wilderness.
When the white rock was revealed, she stood without a change of expression.
It struck me that she loves her religion more than her own child.
Expecting any semblance of normalcy in an insane place is the definition of naivety.
Now, I’m out here earning my Wilds-given right to rule this forsaken hellscape. I keep my knife at the ready, but I’m no ninja. I trudge through the wilderness with as much grace as a newborn donkey.
The rain falls with a steady hand, and by the clouds in the sky, it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon. The wind howls overhead, but the trees block most of it. The occasional roar of thunder promises worsening conditions ahead.
In hindsight, I should have ripped that fucking book out of my aunt’s—by marriage—hands.
I should have read the rules myself because this seems like an attempted coup.
The only thing that stops me from buying into the conspiracy theory is that Darius, who pissed himself earlier in the day, was the one chosen.
Bash would have been the far superior option.
That man would kick my ass seven ways to Sunday, and then kick me another couple days.
He’d scalp my scrawny ass for no other reason than to prove his father’s bloodline was always the stronger one.
That entire family must have been irritated as hell after I left and Tucker married my father, taking our last name, and stealing what wasn’t his.
Only for me to show up and take it myself.
I don’t even fucking want this, but I’m trapped here again.
Twigs snap behind me. I make a quick about turn and search the woods behind me.
Snap, crunch, to my right. Darius barrels through a patch of shrubbery, swinging his sideways. The blade whooshes through the air with each slice, each of them missing. He grinds his teeth together, grunting. His hands are filthy, covered in mud as if he’s taken a tumble or two.
He charges again, slashing. I manage to duck to the side, narrowly avoiding a hit. He’s thrown off balance, wobbles once, and then tumbles to the ground, rolling onto his chest.
“Darius,” I scream. “Stop.”
“I don’t have a choice,” he whimpers as he climbs back to his feet with a layer of sticky mud covering his face. He readies his blade again, waiting to strike.
“Let’s talk about this.” I toss my knife to the ground and steady my hands in front of me, urging him to halt.
“There has to be a way out of this, so just calm down and think.” I inch closer to him, hoping I can get close enough to disarm him.
His lips tremble as I approach, but he doesn’t do anything hasty, which tells me he’s at least considering the idea that neither of us has to die.
How the fuck we’re going to reach that agreement?
I don’t know, but I can only fix one problem at a time, and right now it’s more important to make sure I make it out of this encounter alive.
Whoosh!
An arrow rips between us, stabbing into a tree.
We both look to the left to see a familiar visage—a man in a hooded robe, except this time he’s wearing an absolutely hideous fish mask with the same color treatment of the other two masks.
The fish lips are puckered, overly large, and the sides of the mask have scales etched into it.
The man pulls another arrow from the quiver on his back and notches it.
Tucker appears out of nowhere, tackling the man to the ground.
A brush of cold metal scratches my throat as Darius grabs me from behind, knife pressed against my skin. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to die.”
Tucker jumps to his feet, kicking the shadowy figure in the face, looks over to me, and his eyes go wide. The shadow sweeps his leg, knocking Tucker to the ground.
The knife presses harder against my throat, but not enough to slice it open. “What are you waiting for?”
“Shut up,” Darius whines. “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.”
Tucker reaches for the man’s bow, grabs it, and smashes it against the man’s head.
“Just admit you can’t do it.” My heart slows as I accept whatever fate comes my way. “We’re more alike than you know.”
The man jumps to his feet and rushes towards Darius and I. It’s a welcome distraction as I feel the cold metal of the blade retreating. I throw my elbow backwards, slamming against his chest. The knife clatters to the ground as he groans in pain.
Tucker lunges forward, rips the arrow from the tree, and stabs it into Darius’ thigh.
Darius lets out a gargled scream, clenching his thigh as he stumbles back against the tree.
“Finish it,” Tucker screams, and then he’s gone. He disappears into the forest, hunting the man.
Darius’ gaze lingers on mine, his heart about to beat out of his chest as tears stream down his dirty face, leaving behind clean lines amidst the mud.
I approach him slowly, the burden of what must be done weighing heavy on my soul.
When I reach him, I kick the knife away and take him into my arms. He limps forward and I do my best to help him navigate to a more comfortable seated position.
I grab the knife and sit a few feet away from him.
A clap of thunder jolts me; the lingering hymns making it hard to hear anything. The rain intensifies. At once it poured with consistency, but now it pounds the earth with a hellish fury, and by the way the wind shifts on my skin, I know it’s only going to get worse.
Lightning rips across the sky, and the thunder is right behind it. It strikes somewhere close, somewhere near Ash Cove.
Darius bows his head, hung in shame or defeat. I’m not sure which. I wrap my hands around my knees, but say nothing as I watch the rainwater roll down the front of his hair. He pushes his hair to the side and leans his head against the tree, eyes fixed on me.
“What are you waiting for?” he yells—he has to for me to hear him over the storm. “You either kill me or leave me to die.”
“Fucking shut up,” I scream back, gripping the knife tighter. “I’m not killing you.”
“You know we’re the weak ones, right? That’s what everyone whispers behind our backs.”
I grit my teeth and shrug. “Who cares?”
“I tried to be strong.” He sniffles, choking back tears. “I was born soft. I’m going to die soft.”
The wind tunnels through the trees, whipping and lashing at everything in its path. It howls in hushed whispers, and I swear it’s telling me to finish him. To end his misery. To take the crown I’m owed.
I force my eyes closed and try to shake away the thoughts that taunt me.
“I’m not letting you die,” I shout, but it’s not like there’s a laundry list of alternatives.
Before Tucker’s unhinged demon ass stabbed Darius in the leg, maybe there was a way this could all work out.
Maybe I could have convinced Darius to disappear and start a new life down the mountain, like I did ten years ago. He’d never make it down now.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” He wobbles his head, cracking a defeated smile. “You don’t have a choice.”
“I’m the one holding the knife. I have all the choice in the world.”
“You think you’re in control, but you’re not,” he says, voice ragged and pained. “Somewhere along the way, you’ve gotten lost. You’ve forgotten how this all works.”
“We have to stop blaming all the terrible things we’ve done on this place.” I look him dead in the eyes. “We did it. All of it. Because we chose to do it. There is no one or anything else to blame. And we have to stop living by these ridiculous rules.”
“You’re wrong.”
I rise to my feet, my boots smacking over the mud as I walk away from him. Behind me, Darius screams in pain as he climbs to his feet. I can hear him limping forward, his body fighting every painful step.
Crack.
But it’s not lightning.
There’s a groaning sound, but it’s not a person. It’s loud, echoing off the hills all around us. I cock my head over my shoulder and watch as the tree Darius had rested against falls. It lands with a violent thud, crushing Darius’ body underneath.
The Wilds chose.
Me.