A Dauntless Love

Chapter 10

18 Months Ago

"You are truly the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my entire life"

I looked up at Eric. He was twirling a scarlet curl in between his fingers.

"What?" I asked him

"You. You are beautiful." He said again.

This time he looked into my eyes instead of looking at my hair. I wasn't really sure what to say to that.

"Thank you. I think you are pretty damn beautiful yourself." I replied.

Eric laughed.

"Men can't be beautiful." He said.

Now I laughed.

"Yes they can. You are beautiful in a manly way."

He stared at me doubting.

"If you say so." He said.

I smiled.

"I did say so."

We laid there for a while wrapped in the sheets. I saw Eric's eyes wander over my body covered only in a thin black sheet. He reached out and touched my tattoo on my shoulder. His fingers traced the design of lace and roses. His arm then traveled around my back and he pulled us closer together. He pushed my hair behind my ear and stroked his thumb across my cheek. I knew in this moment that I was in love with him. There was no denying it. The question was did I say it? So far we had spent all of initiation fucking in dark hallways and our life after initiation had been almost the same. Secret hookups and hidden longings. It didn't really seem like the basis for love. But I could help it. As I looked into Eric's eyes I could see my own feelings. I decided to be Dauntless in that moment and be brave. I touched Eric's cheek the same way he was touching mine.

"I love you." I said quietly.

His eyes registered my own and his smile reached them. He leaned forward and gently kissed my lips.

"I love you too." He said.

And I knew we both meant it.

Present Time

I woke up in a cold room. I could hear water dripping and nothing else. The room was dark and I couldn't see anything in it. I blinked a couple of times to try and get my eyes to adjust. My head was pounding and I reached back to touch it and discovered it was bleeding a little bit. I tried to remember what had happened last night. Was it last night? I had no idea how long I had been in this room. I decided to stand up and see how big this room was. I braced myself against the wall I could feel behind me. My legs protested and wavered under me. I stood up slowly to assure that I wouldn't fall over. A wave of nausea passed over me and I stopped. I hadn't even thought about my baby. I know that I had been knocked out and I had no idea what they had done to me besides that. My stomach and my ribs didn't hurt when I moved them so hopefully that meant they hadn't kicked or hit me there.

I held onto the cool wall while I waited for the nausea to pass. The wall was cold and stone. It was slightly damp. I could faintly hear the chasm roaring so I knew I was still somewhere in Dauntless. Then all of a sudden the memory from last night came rushing back to me. I had run into the living room thinking Eric had come to talk. The person I had discovered standing there was not Eric. It was Zach. I remembered him from initiation. He was ranked 3rd right behind Four and Eric. He always resented Eric and Eric had returned in kind. They had never gotten along but I hadn't expected Zach to do something like this. He had wanted the job in Dauntless leadership but Eric had taken it from him. I was foolish and did not react fast enough to defend myself. He had me at a disadvantage with my surprise at his arrival. It hadn't taken him long to knock me out, though I tried to defend myself. How did he know about Eric and me? And what was he planning to do now that he had me? My inner thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. It spilled in a little light making me squint. I could see the outline of a person standing there. I stood up all the way and glared in that direction. Be Brave Liz, Be Brave.

...

Eric's POV

I walked slowly back to my apartment. I didn't want to be there, or at least be there alone. I longed for the feel of Lizzy's skin against mine, for the smell of her hair and the sound of her laugh. I missed every tiny detail about her. I know that I did what I had to do but that didn't mean I had to like it. I opened the door and was greeted with nothing. No warm hug, no smell of vanilla and no excited hello. I was utterly alone, again. I could feel a pull on my heart when I conjured her face to my mind. Those green eyes that always seemed to see right into my soul, that mane of scarlet hair. My fingers ached to touch it again. Seeing her today had been almost too much to bear. I took off my jacket and grabbed a beer from the fridge. I was just about to go to the bedroom when I saw the envelope on the coffee table. There was only one person who could have left it there.

I was tempted to not look at it and just walk past. Opening it would mean seeing her handwriting and hearing her voice in my head. I didn't know if it was a letter of hate or a letter of love but either way I wasn't sure my heart could handle reading it. I picked it up and could smell the slightest hint of vanilla, just like her. I could feel the weight of something inside the envelope other than a letter. I ran my fingers over the curly handwriting that spelled out my name on the front. I had no idea what this letter could contain but I knew I had to read it. If Lizzy had something to say to me the least I could do for her was to read it. I opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper. We should probably talk. I agreed that we should probably talk but I didn't know if I could actually do that. I had so much I wanted to say but knew it needed to stay to myself.

I reached into the envelope to get whatever else was in it. I pulled out the piece of plastic. I turned it over in my hand and only took a second for me to realize what it was. It was a pregnancy test and it was positive. I was shaking, me, Dauntless Eric was actually shaking. Lizzy was pregnant, what was I going to do? I couldn't stop my legs from taking off and running to her. I needed to see her, to talk to her. I ran all the way to her apartment with the pregnancy test still in my hand. I didn't even knock, I just threw open the door. I knew automatically that something was wrong. There was a chair knocked over and when I looked at it I saw a spot of blood on the floor. My heart clenched. My thoughts were invaded with Lizzy and our baby. Somebody had taken them and I knew exactly who.