Captive

Chapter Eighteen

Zaleck practically drug me out of his parent’s house early in the morning. He woke up me up from sleeping; the blankets pulled gently all around me. His face was twisted, his eyes dark. I blinked several times, the room dark. My heart thumped as I thought back to the night where the three men had found me. I struggled against Zaleck as he pulled my arms.

“Sage, it’s me. Relax.” He breathed out and I felt my body immediately shifted as he pulled me out of the bed.

“What’s going on?” I asked groggily.

“Nothing. We just have to go home.” He said and I swallowed.

“Why? Why do we need to leave so early?” I asked, glancing at the clock in the room to see it was seven in the morning. I guess it wasn’t that early, but still.

“None of your business.” There it was, his usual phrase.

I let out a huff and stopped in my tracks, “No, tell me right now why we have to leave. Is it Eb? Is he going to push me around again without you doing anything to stop him?” I snapped, my eyes narrowing as I glared at Zaleck, who, in all honesty, just looked beat and tired.

“No, Sage. It isn’t Eb! And I’m not going to let that happen again, why don’t you trust me?”

“Then tell me what is going on!” I hissed, taking a step away from him.

“Fine. Fine,” He threw his hands up and stepped closer to me, “It isn’t Eb, it isn’t you, it’s me. It’s me and my father. I got up early and he was up and I just can’t stand to be around him right now. As usual.” I watched his bright eyes roll and I let out a sigh. He seemed so frustrated at this point that I didn’t know what to do. “So can we please just leave?”

“Yeah, sure.” I said quietly, reaching for my dress from the other day.

“Just wear that, it’s fine. I’ll wash it and return it to India.” He reached out and grabbed my hand gently, pulling me along. I held my dress to my chest with the other hand as Zaleck pulled me along down the hall, towards the stairs.

My eyes flickered around as I heard a tired voice in the kitchen and then a louder and definitely male voice. I heard Zaleck sigh as he reached for the handle of the front door.

“Zaleck, wait,” I glanced over my shoulder, afraid to see Warner. But instead I saw Averia.

“Mom, I can’t right now. I’ll come back later without Sage so she doesn’t have to hear this.” He said as he turned to face his mother, pushing me behind him. I couldn’t stop the tiny smile that pressed my lips up at his protective stance, like Averia was going to harm me.

“Zaleck, I don’t know what is going on between you and your father, but I’m here to hear you out and help you.”

“I don’t need help!” Zaleck growled, his mother never once wincing, “What I need is to go home with Sage and come back later. I need to cool down before talking to you guys again.” By this point, Warner had stepped behind his wife. My eyes moved away quickly as he looked at me instead of Zaleck. The look he gave me was unbearable, like I wasn’t capable of anything, was a piece of scum that only needed to be sent home. It was probably true; I being with Zaleck was most likely endangering him. I could understand his father’s point of view.

“Do not speak to your mother in that tone.” Warner growled back, sounding almost exactly as Zaleck had. His voice was slightly deeper though and his eyes flashed differently than Zaleck’s.

“Leave us alone. I’m tired of this. You can’t run my life. I can make my own decisions.” Zaleck said briefly before pushing me out of the way of the door, opening it and pulling me out with him.

“Zaleck!” Averia called, her voice high pitched. I glanced over my shoulder as Warner grabbed Averia before she could run after us. My eyes met hers, which were sad and tears were brimming them as she watched her son storm out, for the second time I had seen. She held my gaze, and I tried to show her how sorry I was. This was my fault, his father wouldn’t be so upset with him if it wasn’t for me being here.

“Sage,” I heard gruffly as Zaleck gave me a little tug and my head turned in the direction we were going.

“Zaleck…” I said quietly, continuing to walk behind his quick pace, my tired body trying to keep up with him.

“Sage, please, just don’t talk. I don’t want to take it out on you when you’ve done nothing.” I sighed and let my eyes move down, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you upset.” He added but I just shook my head.

I could hear voices of a lot of people in the streets, even though it was early. Maybe they needed all day with Eb gone or whatever it was.  I felt like we were crowded, but when I looked up, there weren’t as many people around us as I thought and Zaleck had pulled me to the side of the streets and vendors there.

“Sage, I’m sorry.”

I shook my head again, “It’s fine.” I shrugged before I felt his fingers moved under my chin, tipping my head up so that I was forced to look up at him. “What?”

“Don’t do this. I don’t want to hurt you, and I’m just upset and you know by now that I would take it out on you without meaning to and I don’t want to do that to you. I care about you too much.” His voice was gentle as my eyes moved away from his.

I shifted as his other hand came up, both cupping my face before the next thing I knew his lips pressed gently against mine. He was kissing me in the middle of the busy streets, with people of Trittan bustling around.

What was worse was after a few shocking seconds, I kissed him back. I let my head tilt up, stepping on my toes to get closer to him as his hand moved behind my head and helped to pull me closer, deepening the kiss.

When he pulled away from me I felt dazed. His eyes were on mine in a steady gaze, as I took in a slow breath, seeming to have lost my breath. He gave me a crooked smile before he wrapped an arm around my waist.

“Come on, I want to get home.” He said easily as we moved forward, forcing me to go with him. I’m not sure if he didn’t have hold around my waist I could move without stumbling. My legs felt like they were going to betray me and let me collapse, but with Zaleck’s arm securely around me I was able to move next to him.

If Zaleck had walked into our kingdom as a suitor, I would have chased him off just as any other man that had come. My mother would have been disappointed and my father would have scolded me. As this thought came through my mind, my heart felt like it was being ripped in two.

Was I really falling for him? A man on the wrong side of Dane’s war? A man my father, no matter how much I coaxed him would ever approve of. That is even if I could get out of this situation, or if Zaleck’s feelings were the mutual of mine.

What was I thinking? This can’t be happening. Even if it is, it will never go anywhere. I’m going to die at some point in this, whether I like it or not. If my father doesn’t come after so many tries, they won’t need me anymore, and like Warner said, if my father does come, they aren’t going to kill him and let me run home.

I felt Zaleck draw me closer to his side and I glanced over at him, my lip trembling. I needed to make my feelings for Zaleck disappear and I needed them to go away quickly. But as of right now, I was going to let Zaleck lead me towards his house.