Chapter Nine – If we Run
409 Words
The decision haunted me.
For days after the Pleads disappeared, the mansion felt tense, like it was holding its breath. Rae watched me too closely. Servants whispered when I passed. Even the walls seemed to listen.
Beryl stayed close—but careful.
He never touched me in front of anyone. Never lingered too long. But at night, when the world went quiet, I felt him everywhere. In my thoughts. In the way my chest tightened when I thought of losing him.
One evening, we stood on the balcony outside my room, the sky painted with fading gold and purple.
“They’ll come back,” he said quietly.
“I know.”
“They won’t stop,” he continued. “Not now.”
I leaned against the railing. “So what do we do?”
He hesitated. That scared me more than any Plead ever could.
“We could leave,” he said finally. “Disappear. The Pleads don’t cross certain borders.”
I turned to him sharply. “Run?”
“For now,” he corrected. “Just until you’re stronger.”
“And abandon everything?” I asked. “My answers? My mother? This place?”
“I’d rather lose a place than lose you,” he said, his voice low.
The words hit me hard.
I searched his face. “You’d give up everything?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation. No doubt.
My throat tightened. “You shouldn’t have to.”
“Neither should you,” he replied. “But loving you was never meant to be easy.”
The wind picked up, tangling my hair. He reached out, brushing it back gently, like the world might break if he touched me too roughly.
“I’m scared,” I admitted.
“So am I,” he said. “But I’m more scared of a world without you in it.”
I closed my eyes, resting my forehead against his chest. His heartbeat was steady, grounding.
“Let’s not run yet,” I whispered. “Not until I understand what I am.”
He sighed softly. “Then I stay.”
“Promise?” I asked.
His arms tightened around me. “Always.”
That night, I dreamed again.
This time, I was running—barefoot through the forest, moonlight flooding my vision. My senses were sharper, stronger. I could hear everything. Feel everything.
I wasn’t afraid.
When I woke, my pulse raced.
Something inside me had shifted.
- Writer
