Page 11 of Speak No Claim

I heard a crow accept my apology, making me relax. My breathing slowed enough that I could hear my own heartbeat instead of the night that awaited me. Closing my eyes, I felt the comfort and peace of the forest regulating my nervous system.

Then… voices.

So. Many. Voices.

“She couldn’t have gotten far!”

“Check the creek!”

“Spread out!”

“We need to find her! Now!”

Branches cracked around me, leaves crunching everywhere their feet stepped. It was their bright lantern lights, flickering through the trees like wandering ghosts, that made me lock up. Every single one of my muscles tensed. I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe.

I didn’t exist.

“If she made it this far, she’s exhausted! We’ll find her!”

“She won’t survive the night if we don’t find her!”

“Don’t worry! We’ll bring her back before sunrise!”

Bring me back?

I didn’t recognize any of the voices. My uncle wasn’t part of the search party and a sadness I wasn’t expecting settled through me. If my uncle ordered people to find me, it meant I wasn’t just running from one man. It was the entire Academy. Maybe even the whole damn town.

My pulse violently hammered against my ribs. I was certain they could all hear it. Every beat felt like it was betraying me as it echoed through the woods. I thought about the power my uncle held. If he had men willing to search for me, that just meant he had men willing to die for him.

Loyal men. The kind that didn’t ask questions and simply followed orders. That was the scariest thought among all the ones I was drowning in.

What did my family get me into?

My stomach lurched, and I bit my hand so hard I tasted blood just to keep from making a sound. The search party drifted farther away, their voices growing quieter until all I heard were echoes through the wind that were swallowed up through the trees.

Except it didn’t give me relief. One set of footsteps remained. They were slow and unrushed, each step more precise than the last. Every crunch under his boots sounded deliberate.

He wasn’t searching. He was following.

As soon as the footsteps stopped, silence settled again. This time, it wasn’t from the peacefulness of the woods. It was from the hunt. I was being hunted, and that realization alone was enough to cause my lungs to burn. I needed to breathe more than I was, but I wouldn’t let them find me.

I can’t.

This was a game I wasn’t willing to lose.

If I didn’t move, maybe he’d think I was just another branch in the tree or just another secret the forest decided to keep. Minutes passed, then another and another…

He never called my name, never took one step, he already knew exactly where I was. In the blink of an eye, with an eerie tone, he declared, “I know you’re up there!”

My heart stopped. For some reason, I knew exactly whose voice that belonged to.

I closed my eyes. Of course it would be him. He could probably smell my blood and was getting off on it.

“Your dress might as well be an invitation! It stands out against the woods!” he called out.

I didn’t answer, opening my eyes instead. My gaze drifted down to the ivory gown clinging to my body. It was only then I realized what they created.

I was the sacrificial lamb for the party.