Amara’s POV
My legs gave out under me as I ran.
Breathless, I collapsed to my knees in the dirt. My face was scorched by the cold wind, and my cheeks felt like ice from the tears. Like it was alive, my mark throbbed hot and fierce on my wrist.
I tried to make it silent by pressing my hand on it.
I said to the night, "Please." "Just stop, please. This is not what I desire.”
It was hotter, though.
I felt my chest heave. I cried out in a choked voice.
"I'm not interested in being your priestess. This is not what I want!”
I felt so insignificant. So pointless.
Like a chorus of the dead, the wind howled through the branches of the trees surrounding me, making them creak.
I cried until my throat hurt and buried my forehead in the icy dirt.
I have no idea when I dozed off.
But I was t
