NADINE’S P.O.V
When I stepped out of the house, Rowan was waiting for as I’d expected. He stopped pacing as soon as he saw and was at my side in an instant.
"What did he want?" he asked, his eyes roaming over my body for any obvious signs of injury.
I opened my mouth to speak, but ended up shrugging. "I have no idea."
The interaction with Solomon was weird as hell. I don’t know if his plan was to try and create discord between Rowan and I, but he was barking up the wrong fucking tree. Rowan was the least dangerous person I knew, and he’d never risk putting everyone else at risk for . It just didn’t make sense.
"Are you sure?" Rowan asked, obviously not believing . "Princess-"
I gave him a warm smile. "I’m fine, I swear. Can we just go back?"
He pursed his lips. It was clear that wasn’t his preferred choice on the matter, but he didn’t fight . He just intertwined our fingers and quietly walked us back towards the house.
Neither of us spoke the entire way back.
All I could think about was what Solomon had said.
Was I truly naïve about Rowan? He’d risked his life for , but that was completely different from risking the lives of thousands of innocent people for . No one was that important to anyone... right?
"You’re worried about sothing."
I cracked a smile. "I’m always worried."
"Tell what he said, princess."
I sighed. "He said you were dangerous to everyone here."
It was a good summary of everything. It felt weird to say the rest of it out loud.
"Do you believe that?"
"Of course not. I know you."
"Good." It was clear he wanted to say more, but he stopped himself, and it wasn’t until I looked up that I realized why.
Edith stood in front of our house.
She sat on the steps, her hands clasped in front of her.
At first, I thought I was imagining things, there was no reason she’d be sitting there waiting for us, but as soon as she noticed us approaching, she stood to her feet.
"I wanted to wait outside the eting room, but I figured it would be better to wait here," she explained once we were within earshot. "Are you ready?"
My brows furrowed. "Ready for what?"
"You’re still coming with us, aren’t you?"
"You still want there?"
She shrugged. "If you want."
I thought about it for a mont.
I did want to see what it would be like out there, but I didn’t want to leave Rowan, especially not after what Solomon had said.
Rowan must have realized what I was thinking because he lightly nudged forward. "Go, I’ll be here when you’re done."
I started to protest, but he wouldn’t let . He just placed a soft kiss to the center of my head and walked into the house, leaving Edith and I standing outside.
By the ti I turned back to her, I found her already watching with a raised brow and sly smile.
"He loves you."
I shrugged. "Why does everyone say it like it’s a surprise?"
"Because it is. A lot of people are together out of convenience, but you two, there’s actual love there."
"Is that a bad thing?"
She shook her head. "The opposite actually. We all need soone to love us."
"Even you?"
She just smiled. "We should get going. The others are waiting."
I never brought up the question after her obvious attempt at changing the subject, and she didn’t try to answer.
She led towards a part of the community that I’d never been in before. There was a tal gate, kind of like the one at the factory and it was open. The first thing I noticed was that all the girls weren’t here.
There were three others girls excluding . In total, we were just five. Everyone was dressed in so variation of a long sleeved shirt and dark pants, presumably for blending in.
While I did understand that we didn’t need a crowd to take on one monster, it seed weird that Edith wouldn’t take everyone for an advantage in numbers.
"Where’s everyone else?" I asked Edith.
"Resting. We wouldn’t everyone dead at the sa ti, now would we?"
She walked over to the other girls, leaving standing on my own.
Edith didn’t go over any instructions, she didn’t give orders, she just nodded to the girls, and it was as if they all knew what to do. They were a tight unit, a family, they didn’t need words. Everyone just knew what to do, and the thought of moving with their tight unit was daunting.
Jen was by my side in an instant. "It’s not as scary as it seems."
"I never said I was scared."
"You didn’t have to. I was scared when I moved with them for the first ti."
"How did you get over it?"
She thought about it for a mont. "I hunted a monster."
"I’ve hunted monsters before."
"Then you’re already halfway there."
We moved deeper into the woods. The trees got denser, and the air got thicker, but we didn’t stop. The sun was beginning to set as well.
It was completely quiet. There were no birds chirping, no critters moving around. No one needed to tell to be mindful of where I stepped. The forest was never quiet for no reason, it ant there was a threat nearby.
Ahead of us, I saw Edith gesturing for us to split up. I went with Jen and another dark haired girl with tawny skin. We moved deeper into the woods, keeping the others in our sights as well as we could, but watching out for any signs of the monster.
"What do we do now?" I whispered.
"We wait," the girl responded. "Either we find the monster or it finds us."
"Which usually happens?"
Before she could respond, a scream pierced through the ear. It wasn’t one of pain or terror, it sounded more like an alarm call.
The girl in front of smirked, then with a sly wink, she ran towards the sound.
"I guess this is the part where I follow?" I asked Jen who nodded.
"It’s ti for the real fun to begin."
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