Daughters of the King |✓|

Chapter Seven

Beyond the window, the forest was a blur of dark green, and I wanted nothing more than to hurl myself into that void. It would hurt a lot more than the injury I'd suffered yesterday, but at least I would be safe from wild savages and unwanted captors.

When I looked back at him, the soldier had his ear pressed to the door, as though listening. I listened too, but there was nothing to hear besides the rumble of the train and the howl of the wind.

Maybe the savages weren't here to cause harm.

The soldier didn't appear ready to take that risk, though. He unlocked the door and slid it open, sticking his head out. I watched as he checked right, then left.

Then he turned back around and raised the gun at me. He would leave me no choice.

I smashed my teeth together and went first down the hall, the soldier at my back. We encountered no one, and when we reached the door at the end and stepped out onto the balcony, the wind lashed viciously at me. Instinctively, I grabbed onto the guardrail. My boots were as good as any in the army, but they had little traction on the silky steel surface of the balcony floor. I had to brace myself to keep from getting blown off as the train thundered along fast, loud and relentless as a force of nature.

It would be impossible to jump off. At this speed, the ground would batter you to a pulp upon landing.

The air was sharp as needles when I sucked it into my lungs, and it made my head spin. Or maybe it was just the sight of the tracks looming below us, fast and deathly. I leaned slightly over the edge and stared down into the gap, long white strands of my hair whipping at me, the undeniable truth of my own mortality staring me in the face.

I didn't want to move, but the soldier was getting impatient. He nudged me with the end of the barrel, forcing me into motion again.

Before I could overthink it, I let go of the guardrail and launched myself across the divide to the next cart. The wind slammed into me from all directions, and for a brief and terrifying second, I was air-born. When I landed on the other platform, pain shot through my feet and my weakened ankles, reminding me that I was very much alive. I crumpled onto the steel floor and shut my eyes as I waited for the world around me to stop swirling.

And that's where I was—on the floor, feeling pathetic and hating myself for it—when the soldier rushed to my aid. He landed next to me on the platform more easily than I had. Then as he moved to my side, almost close enough to touch, I squinted at him through snowy lashes, bewildered. I could have sworn he looked worried.

What the hell was all this for? What did he want with me?

Of course, he didn't say. He turned away, and I watched him with continued bewilderment as he leaned down into the gap, bracing himself with one hand on the guardrail. I realized he was trying to decouple us from the rest of the train, and in less than a minute, I felt the shift beneath us when we separated.

When he stood up again, he pointed to the door in a wordless command. I kept my mouth shut and raised myself onto shaky legs. Inside, the soldier checked every cabin, keeping his gun at the ready.

We were finding them all empty, and my thoughts returned to the town we'd left behind. So many people begging for a chance to get on board, while all the buildings burned.

I felt a stirring of resentment. Despite facing extinction, we were still a wasteful species. I could never understand it. This hunger for violence, for war.

I supposed I'd been lucky. Lucky to have gotten caught, and lucky that this particular soldier chose to bring me with him, instead of shooting me down where I stood. Although, I didn't think luck was something that could be relied upon for long, since it could shift at any moment like a fickle breeze. And since I didn't know the soldier's true motives, I had no way of knowing how to keep that luck on my side.