Zaine has lost what is most important to him: the one and only girl who held his heart. After a year of searching for her and her Xelloren kidnappers with no luck, he closes off his heart and forces his hopes of ever seeing her again to die.
But one...
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"Don't be a pain and give me a hand, will you?" Liberty gassed as she stretched her hand up toward me.
I smirked, leaning forward on the branch I'd successfully mounted and looked down at her. "And why exactly should I help you when you tripped me on the way here just so you could beat me to this tree?"
She peered up at me, her glistening hazel eyes revealing glimpses of her amusement despite the annoyed pitch of her brow. "Because you love me?"
The words hit me with surprise, causing my heart to pound in my chest. She meant as a friend. I knew this. Yet I couldn't stop my eyes from roaming her beautiful features; the soft rise of her cheekbones, the freckles dotting her already perfectly tanned skin, her thick lashes which framed eyes that made my legs shaky when she used her gentle glances to her advantage, her long, black locks that called for me to mess with them. Yet still, her personality, free and spirited just like her name, made her beauty dull in comparison. Yes, I loved her. Far more than she knew.
And that was why I'd taken her out here today, to tell her this. Away from the hustle and bustle of camp, where the only sounds were the birds singing their sleepy songs and the wind rustling through the deep evergreen leaves of the forest trees. It would be perfect.
I'd tell her. I would. I wasn't going to be a coward. Not this time.
With fake exasperation, I heaved a sigh and leaned down to offer my assistance. Her radiant smile took over her face as our hands locked together, sending warmth up my entire arm and into my shoulder and chest.
With my help, she was able to join me on the thick branch I sat on, facing me. She straddled it just as I did, causing our knees to brush. Such a small thing yet every single one of her touches never escaped my notice.
Her eyes fluttered closed as she straightened her back and raised her face to the sunlight peeking in through the branches above us. "This is amazing. Why haven't you taken me here before?"
"Because it's supposedly dangerous."
She let out a single chuckle. "More than supposedly, Zaine. We could be captured by the big bad warriors of Xellor."
"I'm trembling in my boots," I deadpanned.
Laughing brightly, she threw one of her long braids over her shoulder. "They've never gotten this close before. I don't know why Commander Dafton insists on locking us behind the camp's gates."
"He's protective, I suppose. That's in his job description."
"True..." Her gaze met mine playfully. "But it really cramps my style. I'm named Liberty, after all."
I couldn't help the lopsided smile that forced its way to my face. "The perfect name..." I released a breath, my smile fading. "...for the perfect girl."
Her lips parted slightly, like they always did when she was curious. She looked as if she was trying to decipher the meaning of the sentence before she rolled her eyes, taking it as a joke. "Ha ha."
Leaning forward, my heart beating erratically within my chest, I reached up and tucked a small stray hair behind her ear. Her eyes followed my hand until they turned back to mine. Was she holding her breath?
"I'm very serious, Libby," I breathed, my finger trailing down the edge of her jaw softly.
"You can't be..." Disbelief marred her tone yet there was such gorgeous hopefulness in her eyes. The look spurred me on.
"I can. You're absolutely perfect in my eyes. More than perfect..." I swallowed. "And I love‒"
The next moments happened faster than I could blink, the final word of that sentence never making its way out of my mouth. In a flash, something hit my shoulder and knocked me off the branch. Liberty screamed my name as I fell. The seconds in between falling and hitting the ground, I realized an arrow was protruding from my shoulder and the wind made the pain from the broken flesh there rush throughout my body.
I turned my gaze up to find Liberty through the branches of the trees but I wasn't able to before my back hit the ground.
I gasped for breath, my lungs deflating on impact. My head, which had hit a protruding root of the old tree, zapped with pain and my vision blurred.
Reality slowly started drifting away after that as Liberty's screams and the voices of men mingled into a horrific symphony.
With my consciousness waning, my mouth formed her name but no sound came out.
I didn't know then. If I had, I would have stayed unconscious forever. For I would not see Liberty Price, the girl who owned my heart, when I woke up. And a life without a heart was not a life at all.
