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I got back to work even as they stared at me as though they’d never seen me before. Everything has to be cleaned, to be made new. It seemed the most integral thing to do right then.
On day three, after everything in the house had been scrubbed twice, I passed out, flat on my face in the center of my bed. The room feels cold without Jayne. It was my last thought before I lost consciousness, as though all the adrenaline that surged through me on my run from the men I absolutely would not be living with finally ran out.
I dreamed.
Hannah and I walked together next to a lake. I looked around. “Where is this place?”
“It’s the manor where I grew up. Oh, don’t worry. We won’t be going inside to see my nightmare of a father. We’ll just walk here, along the water.”
Her father is a nightmare? She never told me that. “What are we doing?”
“You tell me. You called me to your dream.” She smiled. “Look, the next time you want to run from your fate, at least take me with you. This time, you left me to deal with this mess by myself. My new husbands don’t seem to have ever spoken to a woman before. It’s awkward as hell, and can I tell my bestie all about it? No, because you ran away. Girl, I was out cold for days. How did you even manage to wake up?”
I shrugged. “I just did.”
“Well, best friend, we’ll see each other soon. In the meantime, you should get some rest.”
My dream changed to nothingness, leaving Hannah to fend for herself with her awkward husbands. Even if they didn’t know what they were doing, they had to be better than mine, who hated me. Who blamed me. Who were drunk and mean when I just wanted to be kind to the world.
A vision woke me. I didn’t know how long I slept before it began.
My gift often roused me in the morning, but this one hurt. I rolled over, gripping my head as the room floated away, leaving me with a new scene. Usually, I saw people I knew, like Jayne falling out of a tree. Once I knew my father needed stitches after he cut himself.
This is different. I looked around a field and couldn’t seem to get my bearings. I spotted a large castle in the distance, with black, spiky towers. To get to it, I would need to cross the green field in front of me, and the sun set quickly. Nearby, three green monsters—beasts was what the Warriors called them—ran in a circle, terrorizing a family inside a brown house, where they screamed for help. I rushed toward the house. Maybe I could help? The mother held two babies in her arms, but when she reached for me, I woke up.
I sat up, panting and covered in sweat. Oh, that was awful. My body shook, pain rolling through me in waves. Nausea cramped my stomach, but I tried to breathe through it to avoid gagging. Nothing to do but wait it out. I lay in my bed.
My unwanted husbands—they didn’t want me, and the feeling was definitely mutual after everything—would have gotten the vision, too. They can do with it as they please. They were great Warriors, after all, who saved people when they felt like it.
Maybe they would consider that family worth doing something about? Maybe they would get there early enough.
I lay back down and waited for the urge to do something to pass.
Days went by, and I quickly fell back into my routine. As far as the city-state was concerned, Jayne had been matched and I hadn’t, which worked for me. I got pats on the back from villagers. A message from a neighboring town invited me to dine with the baron’s son who had been dying to meet me. I sighed. It was all that I wanted. Was it possible I could outright pretend the pairing hadn’t happened?
Then I heard the horses approaching. They were loud, or maybe they just seemed that way to me. Without a doubt, I knew who was making that racket heading for our home.
For some reason I couldn’t fathom, they’d come.
I ran for the house before they could see me. Mama held Walter and she stared at me. “Mama?”
Her nod was fast. “Go to your bedroom, Sloane. If you believe nothing else, believe all will be well.”
I didn’t believe her. There was nothing well about the world. I doubted there ever would be again. I sat on my bed just in time to hear a knocking on the door. My bedroom had a window that was always cracked to let fresh air inside. Unlike Hawkseye, we didn’t have systems for cooling, just open windows or closed windows. The fire kept us warm, sometimes.
While I didn’t dare move where they could see me, I could hear them just fine.
“Ma’am.” I was pretty sure it was Truett who spoke first. “We’re searching for our wife and have reason to think she’s here with you.”
The baby made a cooing sound. “How is it that you lost her, sir?”
They were certainly being more polite to Mama than they were to me, which was good. I couldn’t stand it if someone was unkind to my mother.
“Is she here?” Charles asked.
My mother was quiet for a moment. “You don’t frighten me, even though you obviously frightened her. My daughter doesn’t run from danger; she charges at it, unless she has no other choice. I’m not telling you if Sloane is here or not because, frankly, I’m relieved she got away from you. Good day to you, gentlemen. The nearest town with an inn is twenty miles. You might want to get headed that direction now.”
Did she really just say that to them? Mama never acted like royalty. She just didn’t. It was the snootiest I’d ever heard her.
