Page 19 of The Faebound Trials (Mates and Madness: The Phantom Prince and The Bloodweaver #1)

The second test ended, leaving us down to nine.

I noticed how they had formed groups. I guess it was to survive this place.

I was lost in thought and Drystan was with two other boys who had a brandish on their pulse. A slave brand.

And while we were walking back to the pigpen, someone had pulled me from the back of my hair. My head almost snapped from the force.

“Stop! Let me go!” My voice was hoarse from the panic.

I thrashed, trying to grab the man’s hand from my hair.

Terror settled in my skin when I heard them laugh at my attempts to get away from their grip.

I couldn’t see them. They were holding me from behind. I heard two men walking in front while I was left with a brutish man yanking my hair.

I felt my hair ripped out of my skin and I screamed in pain. Tears started to pool in my eyes.

I realized the others were too far ahead. And I was left alone with them.

“Let me go!”

I kicked and tried to anchor myself to everything we passed. Trees, rock, an elevated piece of land, but they were stronger. The forest just watched in eerie silence.

And I could feel my scalp tearing from the pull.

I was dragged behind wild trees and hidden bushes just meters away from the pigpen.

I hit the bark of the tree when they threw me harshly, branches sticking out from the trees had pierced and scraped my skin.

Blood seeped from the wound, the stinging sensation deepened and I felt my skin scorching from the pain.

My breath hitched as I saw how large the wound was. It almost bore a hole in my arm.

My pulse pounded right behind my ears. Fear crept in my bones as I faced my attackers.

They stood tall before me. All had grinning faces as they savored my pitiful state.

I noticed the glaze in their eyes, almost resembling a hazy state, like clouds had settled behind those thoughts.

I had seen the same thing after the second test. This place was making them delirious the longer we stayed here.

Their eyes and cheeks were hollow from lack of sleep. Or maybe it was from the exposure from the toxic air of Enoranthas.

Observing them made me notice how pale their skin had become, or how yellow their nails had turned, how their skin cracked, and their veins protrude orange against the hollows of their flesh.

“Take one step and I’ll fucking cut you.” My voice cut through the silence.

But they laughed.

And my ears rang at the echoes of their laugh.

I snapped.

I pulled a tree branch and slashed it towards them, attempting to protect myself.

I was tall. But they were larger and stronger and my frustration was beginning to show as they continued to laugh in my face.

I felt pathetic.

But I steeled my stomach. I tried to clear the clogging in my throat.

“Have you ever met a woman who was able to get away from three men?” He instilled in my thoughts that I hadn’t because most of them were never found. “Three men? You can try, but you would be tiring yourself up. Better yet, just prepare yourself for us.”

“Fuck you!” I hissed.

They looked puzzled.

“You kept saying that word. What does that mean?”

I spat on his face. I was able to land it directly to his cheek.

And he was pissed.

I smirked at him. But I was so close to throwing up in sheer terror.

“Go fuck yourself!”

One guy was able to yank my hair and I was too dizzy to dodge.

I stabbed him using the tree branch I was holding but he just pushed me away like I was weightless like a doll.

My elbows collided with the ground as my ribs punctured my lungs. I gasped, breathing felt like I was being stabbed by a sharp knife.

I toppled over. Broken leaves, dust, and soil were stuck on my skin.

Tears fell on my cheeks, hot and angry.

I wiped them off in defiance.

Crying doesn’t mean you’re weak. But I’d hate it if they see how much this scares me.

“You didn’t stay at the house. Where were you? Did those faes had a taste of human flesh?” His tone mocked me.

And I gripped the leaves until they crushed from my hands.

“Did you offer your body in exchange to survive the fae test?”

Another tear escaped as anger consumed me.

“No, I didn’t.”

And when I stood up, I scattered the powdered leaves right into their eyes. One of the men groaned and shouted as dust clung into their eyes and nose.

One guy sneezed so bad when the dust seeped into his skin.

The last guy’s face turned blue. And I could only wish that the leaves I crushed in my hands were toxic to mortals too.

I didn’t waste time.

I bolted for a run.

The forest became a blur as I picked up my pace. The buzzing noise around the forest harmonized with their shouts, a silly attempt to make me stop.

I ran through the labyrinth.

And I never stopped.

My speed didn’t decrease as I heard them running after me.

I never glanced their way.

I never looked back to check how near they were, or how far they had come for me.

I ran as my life depended on it.

I didn’t care if I could no longer feel my legs, I didn’t care if the branches poking out had grazed my skin.

I didn’t care if bruises had formed on my cheeks, or if my ribs were sticking out of my skin in pain.

I had no thoughts of stopping even if I could no longer hear them.

I kept running until I reached the other end of the labyrinth.

They’re gone. They’re gone.

I only stopped when I was a hundred percent sure they were lost in trail of me.

My legs had given up and I rolled and tumbled as I lost my control.

I crashed against the fields full of flowers.

And as I stumbled and stopped at the flowerbed of nowhere, I could only choke out a sob. My chest constricted at the pain, fear, and the rush of adrenaline inside me.

And even after I was able to escape, I couldn’t let myself cry out for fear that they would hear me.

It’s okay. They’re gone. It’s okay.

I got up only to find I had ruined hundreds of blue violet flowers blooming beautiful in this field.

My heart sank in guilt, frustration, and exhaustion.

Finally, I let my tears fall on the wreckage of my escape.