Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 112

NADINE’S P.O.V

When I stepped out of the house, Rowan was waiting for me as I’d expected. He stopped pacing as soon as he saw me and was at my side in an instant.

"What did he want?" he asked, his eyes roaming over my body for any obvious signs of injury.

I opened my mouth to speak, but ended up shrugging. "I have no idea."

The interaction with Solomon was weird as hell. I don’t know if his plan was to try and create discord between Rowan and I, but he was barking up the wrong fucking tree. Rowan was the least dangerous person I knew, and he’d never risk putting everyone else at risk for me. It just didn’t make sense.

"Are you sure?" Rowan asked, obviously not believing me. "Princess-"

I gave him a warm smile. "I’m fine, I swear. Can we just go back?"

He pursed his lips. It was clear that wasn’t his preferred choice on the matter, but he didn’t fight me. He just intertwined our fingers and quietly walked us back towards the house.

Neither of us spoke the entire way back.

All I could think about was what Solomon had said.

Was I truly naïve about Rowan? He’d risked his life for me, but that was completely different from risking the lives of thousands of innocent people for me. No one was that important to anyone... right?

"You’re worried about something."

I cracked a smile. "I’m always worried."

"Tell me what he said, princess."

I sighed. "He said you were dangerous to everyone here."

It was a good summary of everything. It felt weird to say the rest of it out loud.

"Do you believe that?"

"Of course not. I know you."

"Good." It was clear he wanted to say more, but he stopped himself, and it wasn’t until I looked up that I realized why.

Edith stood in front of our house.

She sat on the steps, her hands clasped in front of her.

At first, I thought I was imagining things, there was no reason she’d be sitting there waiting for us, but as soon as she noticed us approaching, she stood to her feet.

"I wanted to wait outside the meeting room, but I figured it would be better to wait here," she explained once we were within earshot. "Are you ready?"

My brows furrowed. "Ready for what?"

"You’re still coming with us, aren’t you?"

"You still want me there?"

She shrugged. "If you want."

I thought about it for a moment.

I did want to see what it would be like out there, but I didn’t want to leave Rowan, especially not after what Solomon had said.

Rowan must have realized what I was thinking because he lightly nudged me forward. "Go, I’ll be here when you’re done."

I started to protest, but he wouldn’t let me. He just placed a soft kiss to the center of my head and walked into the house, leaving Edith and I standing outside.

By the time I turned back to her, I found her already watching me with a raised brow and sly smile.

"He loves you."

I shrugged. "Why does everyone say it like it’s a surprise?"

"Because it is. A lot of people are together out of convenience, but you two, there’s actual love there."

"Is that a bad thing?"

She shook her head. "The opposite actually. We all need someone to love us."

"Even you?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

She just smiled. "We should get going. The others are waiting."

I never brought up the question after her obvious attempt at changing the subject, and she didn’t try to answer.

She led me towards a part of the community that I’d never been in before. There was a metal gate, kind of like the one at the factory and it was open. The first thing I noticed was that all the girls weren’t here.

There were three others girls excluding me. In total, we were just five. Everyone was dressed in some variation of a long sleeved shirt and dark pants, presumably for blending in.

While I did understand that we didn’t need a crowd to take on one monster, it seemed weird that Edith wouldn’t take everyone for an advantage in numbers.

"Where’s everyone else?" I asked Edith.

"Resting. We wouldn’t everyone dead at the same time, now would we?"

She walked over to the other girls, leaving me standing on my own.

Edith didn’t go over any instructions, she didn’t give orders, she just nodded to the girls, and it was as if they all knew what to do. They were a tight unit, a family, they didn’t need words. Everyone just knew what to do, and the thought of moving with their tight unit was daunting.

Jen was by my side in an instant. "It’s not as scary as it seems."

"I never said I was scared."

"You didn’t have to. I was scared when I moved with them for the first time."

"How did you get over it?"

She thought about it for a moment. "I hunted a monster."

"I’ve hunted monsters before."

"Then you’re already halfway there."

We moved deeper into the woods. The trees got denser, and the air got thicker, but we didn’t stop. The sun was beginning to set as well.

It was completely quiet. There were no birds chirping, no critters moving around. No one needed to tell me to be mindful of where I stepped. The forest was never quiet for no reason, it meant there was a threat nearby.

Ahead of us, I saw Edith gesturing for us to split up. I went with Jen and another dark haired girl with tawny skin. We moved deeper into the woods, keeping the others in our sights as well as we could, but watching out for any signs of the monster.

"What do we do now?" I whispered.

"We wait," the girl responded. "Either we find the monster or it finds us."

"Which usually happens?"

Before she could respond, a scream pierced through the ear. It wasn’t one of pain or terror, it sounded more like an alarm call.

The girl in front of me smirked, then with a sly wink, she ran towards the sound.

"I guess this is the part where I follow?" I asked Jen who nodded.

"It’s time for the real fun to begin."