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Jerking away from her, I pushed my thoughts away, following him down steps into the crypt.
“Keep going down, and it will take you to a door.” He waved us on. “That door will lead you out to the street on the back side of the church.”
“Thank you.” I nodded at him, waiting for her to proceed before me.
Together we ran for the exit.
But I knew the girl I ran in with, the one I met at the pub, wasn’t the girl running out with me now.
Slipping across town, we ventured into the more desolate area, the block housing built in the communist time, when the government, not necessarily the people, was aligned with the Soviet Union. It was a grim and dark time in Romania, showing how strong the people were to battle through and fight for their country.
Someone like Scarlet, growing up in America, could never understand what it was like living under true repression. The people in the East understood the darkness of starvation, misery, grief, and cruelty. And since the fae war, many countries that walked the line of democracy fell back over the line, sinking into the impoverishment of totalitarianism again.
My companion stayed right on my heels, not uttering a word, though I could feel her need to say something to me. She seemed to grasp I was walking a tightrope, my body vibrating with adrenaline and anger, keeping myself on the task of getting us safely off the streets before I let anything leave my mouth.
Finding a room to let, which had skinny children, flea-bitten dogs, and bony chickens wandering outside, I handed over more of our dwindling coinage. I recognized we’d soon have to find a way to get more money for supplies before we headed up to the caves.
The old man happily took our money, showing us to the sparse one-room in the old apartment building, which probably violated every code—if they had any of those here.
A single rickety bed was pushed against the wall by a window, with two wooden chairs and a table.
“Toaleta pe hol.” The man pointed down the hall to the toilets before shutting the door on us.
Silence rang in my ears as I set down my backpack. The awareness of being safe for now only let my fury seethe to the surface.
“Ash.”
Hearing her voice snapped any illusion of calmness I had. Moving in a blink, my hand grasped her collarbone, shoving her against the wall with a thud. A gasp parted her lips, her eyes wide as I loomed over her, twitching with fury.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“What are you talk—”
“I’m not stupid,” I seethed. “You think I didn’t notice when sometimes I call your name, and you don’t respond?”
Her jaw ticked, lips pinning together, her eyes lowered.
Flattening her firmer into the wall, tipping her head up to mine with my thumb, forcing her gaze to mine. “Your name isn’t Scarlet, is it?”
Her eyes were defiant, her silence shattering any calmness, drying up my patience and allowing my fury to take control. I let it.
“Tell me,” I roared. “Who the fuck are you?” I pinched her chin between my fingers. “Because the Russian Mafia wouldn’t go this far to track you if you were merely some rich kid. And I recognized the girl with them. She was with you at the bar that night. They shot her…” But now I realized they shot her in the hip. Something she could heal from. But they put a bullet through the other man’s brain. The Mafia isn’t compassionate toward women. They should’ve killed her also. “Who is she? Why is she with the Russians?”
My companion sucked in through her nose, but she tried to quickly cover it up, her jaw tightening.
“Baszd meg!”I slammed my free hand against the wall by her head. “Tell me! Because it’s my life you are risking here as well. I have a right to know.”
“Oh, now you give a fuck about your life,” she spat back, trying to push me away, flinching at the ache it caused her ribs.
Re-gripping her chin, I tapped her head back into the wall, getting about an inch from her mouth, feeling her breath lick against my neck.
“My life is formeto sacrifice or give, not foryouto decide.” My voice was low and gritty. This unfathomable urge to offend her, make sure she knew her place, propelled my mouth. “Lucas and Kek are worth my life… you arenot.”
My words slapped like a whip, making her flinch. She shoved me with more power than I was expecting, stumbling me back.
“Yes, I get it. They were the only reason worth living.” She fumed, her arms wrapping around her fractured ribs. “You’ve made it perfectly clear how you feel about me.”
“Are you sure?” My jaw was tight, my feet stepping back for her.
