Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
“ I assume you’re waiting for me?”
I whip around at the deep voice behind me. He must have come in through the wall in the stone. He leans against the back of the cave, arms folded across his chest. I can actually see him now that I am not gasping for air after almost drowning.
He is tall, much taller than me, wearing clothes similar to ours, but in darker tones. He still wears the belt and sword, but today he has a leather vest strapped around his chest holding a variety of blades. His dark brown hair is tousled on the top, as if he has just woken up, but he isn’t soaked to the bone like I am.
How did he get through the storm?
It doesn’t matter. What matters is that he is here. He found me. I don’t know how he knew, but he did.
I ignore my questions and focus on what is important.
Fin .
I push off the wall and square my body to him, crossing my arms to mimic his stance. The space between us is a chasm, thick with tension.
“How did you know?” I snap at him.
“Lucky guess. What do you want?”
“I want to talk to Weston. I want Fin back.”
He glares at me, his body still as the stone behind him. “Fin is safe,” he says finally.
“Sorry if I don’t take your word for it. He’s just a little boy. He is safe with us.”
“What makes you think that, princess?”
A lightning bolt strikes me at the last word. “What did you just call me?”
“You heard me,” he says, pushing off the wall and taking a measured step toward me.
It has to be a scheme, something to throw me. A stupid pet name he thinks will shake me and make me forget about my fury toward the Castaways. There is no way he has any idea that I am actually a princess.
“I’m not your princess,” I spit back.
He shoots me a pointed look and takes another step forward, slowly closing the gap between us. “You never thanked me for saving your life.”
If he thinks I am going to be deterred by his not so subtle subject change, he is wrong. “Your thank you was my silence and not telling Dane about you.” His eyes harden, but he stays on course, continuing to step closer toward me. I don’t budge. I won’t let him intimidate me, no matter how much stronger than me he looks.
“You didn’t tell him?”
I seal my lips shut. The conversation should not be going there. He is distracting me, changing the subject. I need to get back on course.
“If you will not take me to Weston, you can at least arrange for me to meet him somewhere. ”
He smirks. “What are you going to offer him? He’s going to need to know before he decides to meet with you.” Another step closer.
“I have nothing valuable.”
“I disagree.” Another.
I scowl at him. He is close enough now that I can reach out and touch him, but I am not backing down. I refuse to back away.
“How about a trade?” he says, taking that last step so we are almost touching.
“A trade? Fine. Name it. You know him better than me. What would Weston trade Fin for?” I pin him with my stare, and his teal eyes don’t look away.
“You, princess. I’d trade for you.” I feel the rumble of his voice deep in my abdomen, my heart beating wildly in response.
Me. I could trade for Fin. I would trade for Fin. I’m much more capable of handling the Castaways than he is, and I wouldn’t rest until I escaped.
I open my mouth, ready to agree.
Then it clicks, what he said.
I’d trade for you .
Weston.
This man is Weston.
Not just one of the Castaways that saved me. The leader, the man responsible for kidnapping Voyagers. The man that wants the cure for his own gain.
This evil, dangerous man who had…saved me? Who had looked relieved when I was alive?
No.
It’s all part of his mind games. He’s already been using them on me since the moment we met.
Maybe he doesn’t want me dead, but that doesn’t negate everything else he is responsible for.
I fling out my arms, pushing him square in the chest. He staggers back a few steps, but holds my gaze. I pull my dagger from its sheath and hold it in front of me, just as Brynne taught me.
His eyes flick down to it, then back to me. “Please don’t,” he says. Then he winces, a movement so small, if I wasn’t looking at him so intently, I wouldn’t have seen it. In less than a second, his expression is serious again.
“You. It’s you. You lied to me!” I scream at him, holding my dagger a little higher. He eyes it briefly again, his head tilting slightly as he assesses it.
“I never lied to you, princess.”
“You did. You?—”
He shakes his head. “I never said who I was. You assumed.”
“Why? Why are you doing all of this?” I growl.
“That’s a conversation for another time.”
“There’s not going to fucking be another time! Bring Fin back to me!”
“That’s not going to happen, princess.”
“Stop fucking calling me that!” My anger boils over at his denial and his nickname. I take a step and slash at him with my blade. He leans back, dodging it easily.
“I don’t want to fight you.” He holds his palms up to me in a mock surrender. “I asked you once. Please don’t.”
“I don’t care what you want! I want Fin back!” I charge forward, swiping at him as I go, but each strike misses as he moves swiftly out of my reach. Just when I think I have him backed against the wall, he takes quick steps toward me, catching me off guard. I scramble backwards, my balance thrown off by his sudden movements. He grabs my wrist and twists, pointing the dagger down at the ground.
I cry out as a sharp pain shoots through my arm, causing me to loosen my grip. He snatches the dagger from my hand, then releases me. I stagger backward, clutching my wrist.
He stares down at it, shaking his head and clucking his tongue before cursing under his breath. I only catch a few words. “…piss-poor job. ”
“What did you say?” I snarl.
“I said whoever trained you did a piss-poor job,” he yells back at me. He reaches up and sheathes my dagger in a slot in his leathers and I feel panic rising in me.
“Fuck you!” I spit at him. I reach out and try to snatch it back. He deflects my arm easily and steps away as I crouch down, reaching for my only other weapon. I pull the knife out of my boot and run at him. He ducks my strike, his arm reaching out to circle mine as he pushes forward, forcing me back.
My back slams into the wall, my head following. He grabs both my wrists and holds them above my head, pinning me with his hips just as he had the last time we were in this cave.
“Shall I disarm you again, princess?” he grumbles so quietly, I almost can’t hear him over the roar of the waterfall. He stares down at me, our breaths mingling. I feel heat course through my body and my stomach bottoms out at the sound of his voice. I focus on my anger instead, letting the rage fuel me against this enemy. I refuse to let him distract me and disrupt my time here like he has since the moment I opened my eyes to his.
“I hate you,” I grind out through gritted teeth and use all my strength to try to push him off of me. He doesn’t budge, his size and strength too much for my slight frame pinned underneath him. His hand slides over mine and he pries the knife from my fingers.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He wrenches the knife out of my grasp and pulls away from me, causing me to fall forward. I hit the ground on my hands and knees, my palms scraping against the coarse cave floor. He saunters over to the cave opening and tosses my knife through the wall of the water.
“Hey!” I scream as I scramble to my feet. He picks up my bow and quiver and does the same, sending them slicing through the water and crashing down into the lagoon below.
“You don’t need them,” he says matter-of-factly as he brushes past me toward the back of the cave .
“I need them to protect myself!”
“From what?”
“From you!”
He scoffs, and fire blazes inside me at the dismissal.
Fine.
If I don’t have any weapons, I’d have to use my hands. Brynne and I had sparred without weapons plenty of times for occasions just like these.
I run at him, my arm pulling back, ready to throw an upper cut. I land it on his back, and a grunt escapes him. He spins around and wraps his thick arms around my torso, pinning mine to my sides and moving so his front is to my back.
“Stop!” He yells. I ignore him, leaning back into him and kicking my feet into the air, trying anything I can to get free.
“Haven’t you noticed,” his voice strains, and he grunts as he works to keep my thrashing body contained, “that I’ve done nothing to hurt you? Nothing to strike out at you, despite you deliberately attacking me this entire time? I wonder why that is.”
My feet still as his words sink in. He still holds me tight, not risking loosening his grasp just because I stopped moving for a moment. My chest heaves, my limbs tired from all the exertion while he seems completely unaffected.
“It’s not me you need to protect yourself against.” He pauses, the roar of the cave deafening. “I’m going to let you go now. Please don’t hit me again, princess.”
I hold still as his arms loosen and he releases me. Goosebumps rise on my flesh from his missing touch.
He takes quick steps toward the back wall and I stay where I am, glued to the spot, watching him.
He places a hand on the wall and stands, looking back at me.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, my voice breathless.
He ignores me. “You aren’t getting Fin back. I hope with time you’ll understand.” He pushes on the wall and it opens under his hand .
“No!” I scream and sprint toward him, but I am not fast enough. The stone closes in front of me, as it had last time. I pound my hands on it and let out a scream.
Everything I have been feeling, all of my pent up rage comes out as I scream and pound on the wall. My anger toward my father, the loss of my mother, my childhood. The loneliness I felt my entire life, finally mended during my time on Dawnlin, only to have it ripped away by this man. Weston. This man who, when we are alone, seems to differ from everything I have been told.
He is right. He hadn’t ever tried to hurt me, despite everyone telling me he is the one I need to protect myself against.
He had saved me. He made sure I was breathing. He only defended himself against me .
Why do I feel like this night turned everything I know about this place upside down? What is right? What is wrong?
Who is telling the truth?
My face burns.
No. How can I be so stupid?
Weston is the king of mind tricks, and I fell for them, his sly words causing me to doubt everything I know.
He brainwashes any Voyager he captures, turning them against the rest of us. Within a few minutes I let him turn me as well, questioning who is telling the truth when I know it isn’t him.
I hate him, and I don’t know what to do now.
His final words lead me to believe that he isn’t planning on meeting me again, that I won’t be seeing him. If I don’t see him, and have no clue where to look for him, I have no way of forming a plan to get Fin back.
I have nothing, except for an answer where he has gone, and a million more questions swirling about Weston and things he said.
I know Fin is with the Castaways, and I need to call off our search.
I make my way to the top of the rock bridge, drifting along the paths in the dead of night. It isn’t raining anymore, but my boots still stick in the mud. I remain on edge, still glancing over my shoulders, waiting for a Castaway to jump out and attack me. The emptiness at the small of my back makes me feel vulnerable and unsafe.
It’s not me you need to protect yourself against.
If he was telling the truth, and he wasn’t dangerous, then what was he talking about? Is there another Castaway that is more dangerous, that is responsible for the abductions?
I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut.
No.
He was lying. Again. He was wrong.
I need to tell Dane what happened, and I need to do what I came here to do. It is the only way that Weston doesn’t get what he wants.
He won’t get the cure, because I will have it. And once I do, his offer for a trade won’t matter because I will be gone.