Page 81 of A Cruel Kindness

A point proven by the fact that we were assaulted for every second of the three hour wait for the guard to come get us by a litany of questions, none of which I cared to answer.

Especially not when the Bond was knocking against my mind incessantly, demanding answers for the fact that I wasn’t giving it what it wanted.

Bellamy. Alone. With nothing between us.

♣

Bellamy

When Soren and I stepped out into the bright sun of the desert and I realized who had been sent to retrieve us, I had to fight the groan building in my throat.

General Iroko was standing there, arms crossed with a deep scowl on his face. His leering gaze slid to me first, “I’m glad you were ready to leave. Especially after I had to get my team up at two this morning to come collect you.”

I could feel Soren stiffen next to me, but I simply smiled at the general. “Thank you for your expediency.”

Even though part of me wanted to be rude right back, I wouldn’t give him any more reason to think of me as a spoiled princess.

I wondered if he was part of the messenger chain that had brought the letters back to my father. Too bad for him, this message would be coming directly from me.

I tightened my grip on my pack, as if that would provide an added layer of protection to the envelope stashed there.

General Iroko simply grumbled in the face of my smile and started barking orders at his team. He’d brought with him a convoy of seven trucks, all lined up in the desert sand waiting to take us back to the capital.

I looked up to Soren, seeing how he was doing. My hand moved to his shoulder, stroking down his arm as I thought about how I’d feel coming back after six years away.

He grabbed my hand at the very end of my caress, folding it in his warm grip and stroking his thumb over the back of it.

We fell into muttered conversation as General Iroko continued to command the commotion.

After several minutes, it died down, preparing us to leave.

“Alright, Soren you’re over there,” General Iroko said, pointing at the truck at the back of the convoy. “Bellamy, up front.”

My gaze shot to Soren, panic lancing up my neck. The drive was seven hours. They couldn’t mean to separate us for that long.

Soren’s eyes went hard as ice. “Not happening,” he said to General Iroko. “We ride together.”

General Iroko, to his credit, didn’t even flinch in reaction to Soren’s hard tone. He simply crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Not my choice. Royal rules.”

Fuck.

“You don’t need to treat us like Royals,” Soren argued, taking a step towards me. I didn’t care what any of these people thought of us. I wrapped my hand around his waist, the Bond already screaming at me like a petulant child about to get it’s favorite toy taken from them.

General Iroko snorted like a pig. “You use Royal resources, you follow Royal rules.”

Every soldier surrounding us was wearing the gold and black patch across their arm that designated them as the Royal Guard, not one person on our side. My hand tightened on Soren, knowing that we weren’t going to win this argument.

Soren breathed in, and I wondered if he was debating killing the general just to make a point. I kind of wished he would.

After a grumble of agreement that sent General Iroko turning to his men and barking orders to prepare for our exit, Soren turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

The warmth of them pressed into my skin, anchoring me. The feel of them also reminded me that with every hour that passed, and we had to keep delaying the inevitable, I was growing more and more agitated.

People just kept interrupting us, and I had a feeling that it would only continue when we got to Florus.

My eyes closed, needing to shut out everything else but Soren. He pulled me softly to his chest, dropping his lips to the top of my head. “Seven hours isn’t that long.” He sounded like he didn’t believe his own words.

It would probably sound ridiculous to anyone who wasn’t influenced by the Bond. They didn’t know what it felt like to have your skin erupt in pain like there were fire ants crawling over you when you were separated, or that the touch of your Match was the only thing that could quell it.