tearing away all my doubts. His admission comes at me so fast, my legs wobble under me, but he holds me up.
"That's alright," he starts, sarcastically. "You don't need to say it back or anything."
I break out laughing at the sour expression he gives me, and that time, it's me who grabs his chin. "I love you too. But right now we need to go rescue Rin and the other women." And when we encounter more hobgoblins, I will be ready to eliminate every last bastard.
He takes my hand in his and we race towards the woods. We leap over the bodies, careen around the frozen hobgoblins, and dart into the woods. He keeps looking over at me as if he can’t believe I’m alive.
We’ve been running for a fair distance before we finally hit upon screams. So we sprint in its direction.
Shadows cluster up ahead, and the closer we get, the more Eryk's soldiers come into view.
We shove past them to where a handful of hobgoblins are on their knees, arms tied behind their backs, and they’re overpowered by the guards. I lock eyes with Jed who points his sword at the throat of a large hellish creature with only one tusk. The hobgoblins are outnumbered, but I'm scanning the grounds when my sights settle on several women tied to a tree. My heart soars, and I run to them, my gaze frantically searching for my friend.
“Rin!” I cry out.
She turns around and pushes past two other women to reach me. Her fear disappears when she sees me, and I lunge at her, grabbing her into my arms. The rope around her wrists makes it awkward, but I'm not letting her go.
"Licia," she cries. "I never thought..." She trembles against me, and I pull back to look her in the face, the blood streaks under her eyes from the mirror’s shards, at the dirty on her cheeks, the twigs in her hair.
"You're safe now. And nothing will touch you again. Cedar is going to cry with happiness to see you."
Tears slide down her cheeks as she smiles so beautifully. I've never seen her look so perfect, and the joy it rises in my chest leaves me beaming. This is what life is about... the purity of happiness.
"I feel different," she says. "I don't know. It's like the world seems brighter and I can't stop smiling when I should be scared."
"I have so much to tell you, but for now, embrace the change because nothing will ever be the same again in the best possible way."
23
Licia
One Week Later
I wake up with a smile on my face. I don't remember ever doing that... even when I first moved into this house with Rin and Cedar, a layer of worry always lays beneath the surface that we'll be kicked out or some other hellish bad luck will strike. It's followed me most of my life... or so I've always told myself.
Little did I know the moment the hobgoblins took my mom and grandmother from this world, they destroyed me. And I accepted that fate because I knew no better. How could I?
Me.
The homeless girl everyone ignored.
Who broke into stores for food and shelter, and knew that being different made her unlikable.
I lived in a bubble...just surviving. But that wasn't living.
Thinking back, if I hadn't been starving and wanting to bring food home to Rin and Cedar, I never would have met Eryk and ended up here.
I smile to myself at his name and glance over to the window. Morning sunlight drenches the yellowing curtain in my bedroom back in the village. It'll need to be updated without a doubt, except I won't be living here anymore.
Eryk has given me my own room in the palace, and while I don't have to work in the kitchens, he asked me to help manage his staff. And that begins with interviewing everyone who works there along with reviewing their background. And he's paying me extremely well. But better yet, he's offered Cedar a job in the kitchen, where he's learning to cook. I put in a good word for Rin, and she's now under Veren's wing.
I push myself up from the bed, searching the floor for my robe when the door shoves open and Rin parades inside. She's beaming. Ever since the curse has been removed, she hasn't done anything else, like she's making up for lost time. And I adore seeing her this way so much.
Her blond hair is half pulled back off her