AllFreeNovel
Share Us
From this distance, she couldn’t hear what they were saying. She strained over the silence for even a piece of information, but all was lost on the gentle breeze.
The general handed her father a letter. He tucked the item inside his jacket, securing it.
Then, it was over—within minutes.
General Rush returned to his guards without a backward glance.
Her father looked to the ground as he approached, yet did not stop when he reached her side. He moved through the crowd, and with another wave of his hand, he yelled, “Fall back.”
Something was wrong. Her father always discussed these things with her. She rushed to his side. “What happened? What’d they want? What did he give you?”
He wouldn’t look at her. “We’ll discuss it later. For now, they have called a cease-fire.”
Her foot caught a dip in the dirt, and she lost her balance for only a second before she found her footing again. He didn’t stop to assist her.
She had to run to catch up with him. “But, Father, they attacked us, we all barely made it out alive. What has changed—”
He whirled on her, and she stopped in her tracks. “They want a peace treaty as much as we do. Until one is solidified, for the sake of both parties, there will be a cease-fire!”
His face contorted, showing the lines around his eyes, making him look older. He was so angry... but that wasn’t the whole of it. He wasn’t telling her something.
Stress levels were high and tempers ran deep. This was no time for twenty questions. Her father couldn’t keep whatever it was from her for too long anyway, could he?
He turned on his heels and made his way back to Everwood. She stood for a moment and watched as the men gave her sympathetic looks. Did they know what her father was keeping from her?
This must be a day of bad feelings, first guilt over leaving Krieger and now regret. She shouldn’t have questioned her father in front of the men.
Everyone was eager to hear the ongoings of their rival, but when they would find out was at the leader’s discretion, not hers.
She forced herself forward, wishing for the day to be over and a good night’s rest for once. It had been weeks since she slept in her own bed. With Krieger, as ill as he was, she wanted—scratch that—he needed someone close by.
That’s why she’d insisted he stay in her room. With the medical hut overwhelmed with patients, he had to go somewhere. Hadn’t he?
She adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she entered the safety of Everwood.
She climbed the stairs and entered the weaponry storage room, set her bag down, and picked up the clipboard, taking note of their inventory.
She had been meaning to get to this ever since she returned from her last mission, but Krieger had needed her. Hopefully he was resting like she ordered him to.
Keeping track of how much ammunition and how many working guns they had was vital. Mother Earth knew they used a number of bullets to hold off Stone Haven soldiers during their retrieval of the Skyline Sanctuary people.
By the time she was done, the sunlight was dimming as it fell behind the trees for the day. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t get the events of the morning out of her mind. Why wouldn’t her father tell her what they discussed? What could they want in exchange for peace?
Eva couldn’t wrap her brain around it.
She held her head in her hand, fatigue hitting her hard, along with nostalgia.
It was times like these that made her miss the way things were before.
Before the world collapsed and, soon after, her favorite person. The memories she had with her mother seemed to fade as the years went on, but the hurt was just as strong. Mom...
Her throat tightened at the thought.
Lock it up, Eva! She scolded herself.
She just needed to get some rest. She grabbed her bag and left the weapons room, then climbed the stairs that would take her to her hut.
She set her bag down, walked over to her cot, and let herself fall face-first on her bed.
