“I don’t care about being calm.”
His light eyebrows lifted.
“I have been in this cave for a very long time.”
“How long?”
“Longer than you have been alive,” he replied quietly.
“Before your parents were even born.”
I scoffed, looking down at his chained hand.
“If this place were so easy to leave, I would have walked out long ago.”
I pointed straight at his wrist.
“How would you leave anyway when you are locked to the stone wall with heavy iron? That is your problem, not mine. I am not chained to any rock.”
I turned my head and looked up at the high ceiling of the cavern, searching for any sign of daylight or an opening.
“I need to know where the exit is,” I said, my voice growing urgent.
“I have things I need to finish.”
I held Josephine’s lilac bear closer to my side.
My sister was gone, now she needed my help, and the people who had brought fire and blood to the palace were still out there.
I could not sit in a damp cave while my enemies walked around free.
“I need to get back up there,” I said, pointing up toward the ceiling.
“I need to finish what I came to la fita to do.”
The man watched me in silence for a few seconds before answering.
“The very first thing you did after waking was look for an exit,” he said.
“Yes,” I answered.
“You did not ask how you survived the fall.”
“I can ask about that later.”
“You did not ask who pulled you out of the cold water.”
“I don’t care.”
“You did not thank the person who kept you alive while you lay unconscious on the sand.”
I stopped and frowned at him. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
He shook his head slowly, his gray eyes cold.
“Children nowadays have no manners at all.”
I let out a harsh breath through my teeth.
“Another boring man.”
I studied his face and his posture.
For all I knew, he was a werewolf, just like the rest of the people involved in the attack on the palace.
But right now, standing in this cavern, neither of us possessed any abilities.
My wolf was quiet inside me, stripped away by whatever force held this cave, leaving me with normal human strength and human pain as if I ever had it in the first place.
He was in the exact same condition a werewolf without his abilities, bound by normal iron and regular bone.
“I stayed in a psychiatric institution for five years so when it comes to manners you met the wrong person” I said, turning away from him.
“I am going to find a way out of here mystery.”
I walked over to the side wall of the cavern, examining the surface of the rock.
The wall was steep, but it had small ledges, narrow cracks, and rough bumps that could serve as footholds.
If I could climb twenty feet up near the top of the waterfall, I might find an opening that led to the surface.
I raised my right hand to grip a sharp piece of stone overhead.
As my arm stretched upward, the fabric of my sleeve moved smoothly along my arm.
It felt soft, dry, and completely light against my skin.
I stopped.
I looked down at my arm.
The thick, torn tunic I had been wearing during the attack was gone.
In its place was a long tunic made of bright cloth woven strips of deep blue, bright green, and vibrant purple and bunch of useless colors… how come I never noticed?
My brow pulled together in confusion.
“Wait.” New chapters come out on g.com first.
I touched the soft blue and purple fabric with my fingers.
“What is this?” I muttered to myself.
“Why am I wearing this?”
I looked toward the edge of the riverbank.
Resting on a flat stone near the water was a heavy, soggy pile of black cloth.
It was my old tunic and trousers, torn to pieces, covered in mud, and completely soaked with water.
I froze.
Slowly, I lowered my hands and turned my body back toward the man.
I looked at him sitting on his flat rock.
I looked down at the bright blue, green, and purple outfit covering my body.
Then I looked back at the pile of wet rags by the riverbank.
Then I looked straight into his gray eyes again.
A sharp knot formed in my stomach.
“Wait,” I said, my voice dropping.
My eyes widened as the realization hit me completely.
“Wait, wait, wait.”
I raised my arm and pointed my index finger directly at his face.
“Did you change my clothes?”
He did not flinch or look away.
He sat back against the rock face, resting his hands casually on his knees, his chained wrist resting against the stone.
A tiny, calm smirk pulled at the corner of his lip, but he did not speak a single word.
“Answer me!” I snapped, taking two quick steps toward him, my hands clenching into fists at my sides.
“I am asking you a direct question. Did you take off my old tunic and put this blue and purple thing on me while I was knocked out?”
Thank you so much, Elle_m_n_o_p!
Your support truly keeps me going.