could run into the woods.
He overpowered me easily, like I was a child. His hands locked my arms in place, keeping me pressed down so tightly the only movement I could make was the steady rise and fall of my chest through my breathing. “What the fuck are you doing?” His deep voice was hushed in a whisper, but his anger was so potent that it felt like he was yelling, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Do you know what they’ll do to you if they find you out here? You’ll be the next victim of the Red Snow. Do you understand me?” He squeezed my arms hard, gripping me so tightly there would be two bruises there tomorrow. He pulled me then pushed me back into the wood, trying to strike some sense into me.
The threat instantly passed at the revelation. “Magnus?”
His nostrils made a steady line of vapor because he was breathing hard, full of rage. “You think you’d be alive if I were anyone else?” His brown hair was short but full, a little messy because it was the end of a long day in the cold. His jawline was sharp like glass, sharper than I noticed in the quick glances into his hood. The shadow across the bottom part of his mouth was gone, like he had shaved sometime after he delivered my dinner. The look in his eyes wasn’t calm and knowing like it had been when he played poker with the guys. Now his eyes were wide—and on fire.
“I’m just trying to—”
“I don’t give a fuck what you were trying to do. You need to get back to your cabin before they discover you. If they find you, I won’t be able to help you.” He finally released his grip on my arms and stepped back, like he needed to withdraw himself so he wouldn’t really hurt me in his anger. “Go. Now.” His eyes lifted up slightly, as if to check if one of the other guards had departed the cabin.
I was still paralyzed, unable to move.
His eyes dropped down and looked into mine again, just as fierce as before, that rage growing.
“Why are you helping me?”
His brown eyes shifted back and forth slightly, burning into mine as his chest rose and fell with furious breaths, the vapor trailing from his nostrils into the darkness and disappearing. This was the look he’d been giving me from the privacy of his hood for the past few weeks. He looked livid, but maybe he always looked this way. “Keep pissing me off, and I’ll stop.” He came back to me and lowered his voice. “I’ll be gone for a few weeks. You’ll be on your own. So, I suggest you be on your best behavior.”
That church bell on the wind had been the first sign of hope in this desolate place. But this man was the bigger sign of hope, my saving grace. My hands shook, not from the cold, but from the comfort he brought me, the belief that there was some good in this place…even when wrapped in darkness. And losing that, even for a short period of time, was brutal. I couldn’t let him go, couldn’t lose this lifeline that God gave me. “What do you mean, you’re leaving? Where are you going? When will you be back—”
“Go back to your cabin. And do not pull this shit while I’m gone.”
I moved closer to him, my hands moving to his forearms because I wanted to touch him, to touch the only man in this camp who wasn’t evil. “Take me with you…”
His eyes didn’t blink as he looked into mine, as if he actually considered it, took a moment to figure out how he could make that happen, a plan to sneak me out of this horrible place. “I can’t.”
“Please—”
He yanked his arms from my grasp. “I said I can’t.”
“Magnus—”
“Go.” He walked away from me, dismissing the conversation, taking the stairs back to the patio.
A man’s voice sounded at that moment. “Are we playing another round or what?”
I immediately stepped back, hiding against the platform so the light couldn’t shine on my body.
Magnus’s response was curt. “Coming.” He stepped in and shut the door loudly behind him, like he wanted me to know they were all inside—and the coast was clear.
9
Trendsetter
After I made it back to my cabin, I couldn’t sleep.
I tossed and turned until morning.
The guard who came to get me was nothing like Magnus.
“Get your fucking ass up!”