“You cannot be serious, Jodie.”
“I am.”
A tear ran down Wesley’s cheek. “Every time you used to visit from Stonebridge, I felt myself get put back together. And every time you left, I felt myself shatter once again. I waited for you. I always waited for you, every time, as we grew up. Even after your marriage to Petir. I awaited your return so that I could hold you once more.”
Jodie did not know what more to say. “I cannot continue with this any longer, Wes. We both have spouses now and kingdoms to think of.”
“But my love for you-”
“Wesley,” Jodie interrupted, stepping back from him with a hand out, “please. We have never seen eye to eye on anything. Growing up, your only interest in me was the excitement of bedding me in secret. We had fun learning new things, exploring our bodies, sure. But you never attended court with me on my visits, never gave me a tour of Andervale, never got to know me or spent any genuine time with me. What we have has never been love, it was lust. It was always lust.”
“No, I love you.” He felt his innards shattering as he pleaded in desperation.
Jodie patted Wesley’s outstretched hand. “You may have loved me, but you cannot love me anymore. It is time for us to let go. I’m sorry, Wes.”
Jodie released Wesley’s hands and blew out the candlelight, sending the room into a state of darkness. She made her way over to the door.
Wesley became frozen, tears dripping down his face. He could feel the shattered pieces of his heart cutting deep into his chest like shards of glass.
“Please, Jodie! I will do anything!”
Jodie stopped and turned, looking just as upset as Wesley felt. Her eyes were red, and her lip was quivering.
She said nothing and exited the room, closing the door behind her.
Wesley stood alone.
He fell to his knees, sobbing. All he had ever wanted in his life had left him with nothing. He had waited so long, thought of every possible scenario to find a way to be with her. And this is what it had amounted to?
Wesley cried into the palms of his hands.
Every wrong decision he had ever made played through his mind. Every person he had hurt was cackling and pointing fingers at him. Every memory of being with Jodie was washed away by tears.
It was all a lie. All of it!
After a moment of weeping, he leapt up and hit his fists against the stone wall until his knuckles were bloody and bruised. Saliva ran from his open mouth as he wept.
Wesley called for Jodie, but she did not return.
Chapter 14 - Gleamrot
Tomas awoke with a fright. His entire body shuddered as he spasmed out of the nightmare, sweat pouring down his face. He felt ghostly hands holding him down and could hear the spine-chilling noise of the blade being sharpened.
Still panicking, Tomas clambered around in his bedroll, looking for a weapon.
“Woah, woah, Tomas, easy,” Rilan said gently. His friend rushed over, grabbing Tomas by the shoulders to keep him down.
Wide-eyed and scared, Tomas’s gaze darted around the campsite looking for danger that he was sure was there.
But there was none.
Only Rilan, Captain Gharland, the squire Landry, and several other strangers, gathered around a fire in the dark woods, staring at him.
He felt for the key around his neck on a thin chain of steel. It hung snuggly beneath his shirt where it always had. He breathed a sigh of relief.
The two brutes that Landry had warned them about, Ref and Styna, sat away from the rest of the group, cloaked in black hoods, snickering at Tomas’s outburst.
“That boy damn near pissed himself!” Ref cackled.
“What’s the matter, boy? ’fraid of the big, scary woods!”
The thugs began howling like wolves.
“Ignore them,” Rilan whispered, patting Tomas on the back.
Tomas’s heart settled. His muscles relaxed. There were no hands holding him down, no fingers strangling him.
It was only a nightmare.
Landry came over with a cup in his hand, his black hair scruffy from wearing his helmet all day. “Are you alright, Tomas?”
“I’m fine.”
“He gets night terrors sometimes,” Rilan said.
Tomas gave Rilan a quick look, as if to indicate he did not want others to know. His cheeks grew rosy.
Landry handed Tomas the cup. It was filled with warm, freshly brewed tea. “Found some wild tea leaves nearby. Doesn’t taste all that good, I’m afraid. But it might help make you feel better.”
“Thanks, Landry.”
Tomas sipped the bitter tea. Landry was right- it tasted like shit, but the warmth was a pleasant shield against the cool night.
Tomas gained his bearings as his mind cleared. They had been riding for several days with little sleep. The road through Gleamrot Forest had not been easy. The woods had an ominous breath to them, hundred-foot-tall pine trees swaying and groaning with each gust of wind. The road was treacherous, mostly deserted, and had a layer of thick mud from scattered rains.
The group had passed through a dense layer of fog before coming across the burned remains of a homestead only the previous day. Smoke still rose from the glowing embers of the skeletonised house.
Gharland noted that Akurai raiders were probably responsible. Nothing remained but the charred ashes of timber and wood.
Tomas had wondered, who had lived there? Where were they now?
He had gotten his answer sooner than expected.
Around the next bend, they found the hanging corpses of a family high up over the road. It looked to be two adults and a small child.
The young boy was what bothered Tomas the most.
He had been stripped before being hung,
