Brute's Desire

Chapter 1

Charlotte

My feet are soundless on the dirt as I walk through the corridor. I keep close to the shadows, just in case.

Clutching my cloak, I hurry along, hoping I won’t run into anyone. If I do… Well, a lot of people’s lives depend on me not getting caught.

Including my own.

A sound up ahead forces me to halt, ducking into a nearby crevice. I peek out after a moment, squinting my eyes in the dark.

I recognize her immediately. We’ve snuck around for long enough. I’d know that long hair and nightgown anywhere.

I reenter the corridor and make my way towards her. “You scared me,” I whisper once I’m close.

“I’m sorry. I wanted you to know I was here,” Laura whispers back. “Better than jumping out at you in the dark.”

I look into her large eyes that match the shade of mine almost perfectly. Deep, warm amber. I’ll always find that color to be comforting. Soothing.

“Are you ready?” she asks after a moment.

My throat bobs, a lump forming as I swallow. I know exactly what’s about to happen, but no amount of preparation could have gotten me ready for this.

I shake my head. Laura and I don’t lie to each other. We never would’ve survived if we had.

“It’ll be okay,” she assures me. “The orcs in Burning Sun are different than they are here. You’re going to be safe.”

Again, I shake my head. “But you won’t be.”

My eyes fall to look at the bruises that take up every spare inch of her skin. Some are light, and some are dark, almost black. Next to them are scratches and scabs.

“You should come with me,” I find myself saying. I already know what she’ll say. She’s said it a million times. But I can’t stop myself from trying one more time.

“I can’t.”

“If Burning Sun is so safe, then why? I don’t understand.”

“Because I can handle this. I know the Chieftain well; I know how to survive him. If I go with you, he will just choose another girl. A girl who will surely die soon after. What kind of monster would that make me?”

“It wouldn’t make you a monster.”

“It would. To subject another human to the things I go through every day? Not everyone can handle this. I’d be responsible for the death of countless girls.”

“You wouldn’t. He would.”

Laura puts a hand on my cheek. “Please, Charlotte. Don’t do this. I need you to get out of here, and I need you to do it now tonight. Without me.”

I sigh, looking around the darkened corridor. Timing is vital tonight. The longer we stand here, the worse my chances get.

“Where’s the letter?” I ask.

She reaches under her thin, nearly see-through nightgown and pulls out a folded-up piece of paper. How she was able to attain it, I don’t even want to ask.

“Keep it safe,” she warns.

“I will.” I take it from her and shove it into one of the pockets in my cloak.

“You are to give it directly to Loki. He’s the leader of the Burning Sun clan. It contains all the evidence needed to prove that JadeStone and some other clans have been putting up a front. Burning Sun is good, they need to know of this betrayal. They can help.”

“How do you know they’re good? What if they’re just like JadeStone?”

She presses a hand to the side of my arm, squeezing it through my cloak.

“I promise you, they’re nothing alike. They’ll protect you.”

“And if they don’t believe me?”

Laura’s expression grows pained. It’s a reality we’ve thought about but have tried to ignore.

“If they don’t, then they’ll still offer you shelter. They are good. They help humans. They wouldn’t just cast you out.”

I nod, hoping she’s right.

“But Charlotte… they must believe you.”

Her eyes bore into mine, and I can see it. The longing, the sadness. The hope. I know what it looks like, because I feel it too.

“I’ll do everything I can,” I promise her.

“We should get going. If Chieftain Amzo catches us, it won’t be good. He’ll punish us both severely.”

We walk, keeping our steps quiet, stopping every so often to make sure no one is around.

“How did you sneak out?” I ask. I just want to keep hearing her voice until the very last second. Who knows when I’ll hear it again?

“It doesn’t matter,” Laura replies. “But I’ll be okay. I can get back into his quarters unnoticed.”

I bite my lip hard to keep the tears at bay. Twenty years, she’s protected me. Kept me as safe as possible. And now I’m leaving her all alone.

As we shuffle through the dark, I think of ways to convince her to come with me. She’s my sister. I can’t just leave her. Not when I know what I’m leaving her with. Or rather, who.

We reach the end of a hall, one I’ve never been in before. It smells moist, and the ground is rough under my feet.

“Where are we?” I whisper.

“There’s a tunnel inside that door, behind a rock. I’ll move it aside for you and then put it back in place. It will take you out. You just have to run straight ahead the whole way.”

“And once I’m out?”

“Once you’re out, you run straight into the woods, and you keep going until you reach the waterfall. It stands on the border of Burning Sun. It’s huge, you can’t miss it. And you’ll hear it a good while before you reach it. The water is really loud.”

“Okay.”

“I stashed a bag of food for you to take inside the room. I don’t know how long it’ll take for you to get there. It could be days, so try to ration it. There are some water skins as well.”

“Okay,” I repeat.

I follow her into the room. It’s small and obviously used as some kind of storage space. She grabs something from one corner, a bag, and hands it to me. I sling it over my shoulder.

I glance at the rock she mentioned, but my eyes look away from it. How can I just leave her?

“Laura, please. Please come with me,” I sob, hot tears spilling from my eyes. They slide down my face, coating it, and they don’t stop coming.

I swipe an arm across my cheek to wipe some of them away, but it’s useless. They’re just replaced by more.

“If you’re already here, then just go with me. Nothing is stopping you. We can be safe together.”

One tear falls down her face. I’ve never seen her cry before. Not once, not even when the Chieftain took her as his.

“I need to be here,” she whispers, her voice hitching.

“What if they find out what you did? What if they notice I’m gone, and they suspect you? They could kill you, and then he’ll just find another girl, anyway. It’ll be for nothing.”

“It won’t be for nothing. Because you’ll still be saving all the humans in JadeStone and all those other clans.”

“But not you…”

 “I have to take that chance.”

Even through my blurry eyes, I can see how hard this is for her. I know in my heart that she wants to go too, but she will never allow herself to.

I have to be strong, like her, and do this alone.

Throwing my arms around my sister, I squeeze her close, breathing in her scent. Committing it to memory.

When we pull away, Laura moves the rock aside, and I’m surprised by her physical strength.

She’ll be okay, I tell myself.

“Please stay safe,” I beg her. “Stay alive, and I’ll save you and everyone else.”

“I will, I promise.”

“I love you, Laura.”

“I love you, too, Charlotte. And I’ll see you again, okay? This isn’t the end.”

I duck down until I’m level with the hole, trying to ignore the emotions threatening to take over. I have to do this while I’m still brave enough. One more second and I might just hold on to her and never let go.

I put the bag in first and shuffle inside on my hands and knees. It’s pitch black, but I can feel the tunnel is a lot taller than the hole.

Before I stand up, I poke my head back through. Laura is crouched down inches from me. She leans in and places a kiss on my cheek.

We look at each other for a moment, neither of us speaking. There are no words. None that could do us any good at this moment.

I memorize her whole face, every single beautiful inch of it. And when I’m done, I back away and stand up, staring down at the small hole.

A couple seconds go by, and then I hear the shuffling sound of the rock moving. The moment it’s in place, I clasp a hand over my mouth, holding back a sob.

I don’t want her to have to hear me, to feel even worse about not coming. She’s done so much for me; she doesn’t deserve it.

I grab the bag she gave me and start walking through the tunnel. It’s so narrow, maybe three feet wide. It’s even more damp than that corridor was, and the earthy smell is overwhelming.

As I run, I let my cries loose, practically choking on my tears. I fall at some point, tripping over something that I can’t see.

My arms take most of the impact as I hit the ground. My shoulders jolt, sending a wave of pain throughout my back. My bag falls off my shoulder, but I slip it back into place.

I try to find what I tripped over, feeling along the ground, but it’s so dark that I can’t even see my own hands in front of me.

“Shit!” I scream, scuttling back. Something crawls over my hand, up my arm.

I jump to my feet, shaking my arm all around to get it off. As soon as the crawling stops, I run even faster. I need to get out of this tunnel.

I do not know how long it is, but it can’t go on for too much longer. At least, that’s what I tell myself to keep my feet moving. 

It’s impossible to tell how much time passes, but it feels like hours when I reach the end of the tunnel. I come to a stop at a wall.

When I place my hands on it, running them along, I feel something jutting out of it. I think it’s a rock, same as the one back in that room, only it’s much bigger.

I get on my knees and use all my strength to move it to the side. At first, it doesn’t want to budge, but I’m able to get it just far enough.

A soft breeze flows through the opening. It’s still nighttime out, so it’s dark beyond the hole, but it still provides enough light that I can see what’s in front of me again.

I shove the bag to the other side just like earlier, and crawl through, picking it back up when I’m completely out. When I stand up and turn around, I realize that I can’t move the rock back into place from the outside.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

I begin searching around for a solution. From the outside, it looks like a small hill with a hole in its foot. It’s too obvious.

After a few minutes, I find yet another rock. It’s heavy, but I manage to shove it towards the hole and prop it up. Stepping back, I check my work.

It looks natural enough, and I can’t spend much more time on it, anyway. It has to be good enough.

My eyes leave the rock and I look over the hill. Just far enough away that I can’t make out any details, I see a soft glow. The lanterns that JadeStone keeps burning at night.

Laura is out there, in Amzo’s bedchambers. Lying next to him, where she’s been every night since I was thirteen years old.

I still remember when we were brought here. The Chieftain took a liking to her because she was so beautiful. JadeStone was going to take her and leave me all alone, but she convinced them to take me too. To protect us, in exchange for her devotion to him.

They agreed, though they didn’t really follow through on the protecting aspect of it. They made me a slave worker, and her… well, needless to say, she has it a lot worse.

Over the years, she’s always protected me, no matter how bad she had it.

My hand goes to my neck. I can feel it under my cloak. The necklace Laura made for me years ago. The only thing I have left of her.

For now.

I square my shoulders and wipe the last of my tears away, turning around to walk into the woods. This is my chance to repay her for all she’s done for me.

I refuse to let her down.