7. Loveleena
LOVELEENA
Once the night had settled into the morning and whatever buzz she had from the wine had worn off, the party became unbearable.
Her father had gone on and on about the creature sympathizers and how delusional they were.
The other noblemen and high-level associates echoed his sentiments, adding their thoughts on the tense social climate and what more needed to be done, before her mother scolded them, saying that this was a party not a caucus.
It had been years since she graduated mandatory school, and Loveleena still had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. The thought of having to sit around and listen to the nobles talk about sympathizers and food scarcity made her want to throw herself off the top of the Great Wall.
She slipped out onto the empty street. Getting out of her house felt like coming up for air after being trapped underwater, and she breathed it in selfishly.
Without realizing it, she found herself walking down to the spot that she and Park used to sit and talk about the city, their dreams, and what was beyond Jarrah in the weeks leading to his disappearance.
She took a deep breath and sat down, her back against the tremendous Great Wall.
Daybreak approached and still the city lights glowed, offering a warm comfort.
She didn’t have much of a vantage point here but she could see the rise and fall of Jarrah city and the unforgiving mountains on the horizon.
Laughter in the distance met her ears, and she smiled slightly, thinking of strangers enjoying the dry summer.
“Where are you?” she whispered, as if Park were sitting right beside her, their knees grazing. She had spent the last year contemplating and overanalyzing what could have happened to him.
As tension in the city rose, so did distrust. It left a haze of blood over Jarrah, smothering them all with its metallic life force.
She thought, for a moment, that Park may have gotten caught up in sympathizer propaganda, but quickly shook the idea from her mind.
They confided in each other about everything. Surely, she would have known.
Reports detailed bloody abductions and murders by creatures that had gotten over the wall. But if Park had been taken by a creature, there would have been evidence. She refused to believe in that possibility.
Park was alive.
He had to be.
Her throat felt like sandpaper as she swallowed.
They had dreamed about escaping their familial expectations and would joke about starting a new life in one of the lost cities.
To her, it was all in jest. The lost cities were nothing but ruins, destroyed after the great war.
But Park had become enthralled, spending the better part of the last six years investigating them.
At first, she thought it was just a hobby to distract him from the constraints of noble life.
But as time passed, he became more serious in his claims that they existed as fully functioning cities.
His interest had progressed, and one night as they sat in this exact spot, he showed her how to pull the stones away to reveal a small opening at the base of the wall.
When Park and her had peeked through the wall the first time, her heart pounded so loudly she was sure all of Jarrah could hear it.
But the forest on the other side was quiet and uneventful.
She had clung to the thrill of it, not sure if she was more afraid of being labelled a traitor or being brutally attacked by a creature.
But it didn’t matter. Because with Park, she always felt safe, invincible even.
Like she could do anything with him by her side.
Nothing scared him, not even the creatures, not really.
He had a lust for life that drove him to explore, to understand everything, to experience as much as he could.
That’s what drew her to him from the first day they met.
She always wanted to soak up his intrepid, inquisitive spirit. To see life from his perspective.
No, Park wasn’t a sympathizer. But he was obsessed with the lost cities.
For a short, insane moment, she contemplated moving the stones and going out into the forest. She wasn’t a fool; she knew it was dangerous.
But what if…
What if Park had tried to go beyond the wall?
She didn’t have to go all the way through, she could just… look. Just to see if there was any sign of him—any sign he had gone through on that night, one year ago.
She would do it quickly, she decided. Quietly. No one was around. The street was bare. She could remove the stones and check for any sign of Park and put them back. Basic. Harmless. Easy.
Logic protested. Going through the wall was an automatic death sentence.
If she were caught, she would be labeled a traitor.
The consequences were much much worse than a year ago.
A lot had happened. The attacks, the Defender presence, and the paranoia.
And it wasn’t just her—her family would be persecuted, too.
They would be stripped of their titles, their nobility, their power.
It would bring shame on their family and leave a stain for generations.
Still, an invisible, seductive string pulled her forward.
She twisted onto her knees and shifted the stones away one by one.
Her fingers trembled slightly as they gripped the rough edges of the cracked stone.
Removing each one carefully, she set them gently on the ground, taking care to be as quick and quiet as possible.
As she pulled the last stone away, she was met with two amethyst eyes—human eyes—and she fell backward, screaming.