Page 85 of The General's Captive

“Now do I need to carry you?” he asked, and I gritted my teeth.

“No. I can walk.”

He grinned at my stubbornness, and I didn’t want the arrogant asshole to think I needed him.

“Then, shall we?” he said, holding out his arm, his cloak falling back over his shoulder.

I looked behind me, seeing the way his army had slipped away, leaving us alone. Of course, he took my reluctance for what it was… fear of whatever lay waiting for me behind those doors.

“I think you know by now that you wouldn’t get far, even if you weren’t injured,” he stated, giving me cause to straighten my back and force myself to walk toward the doors with a façade of bravery.

I hated the way his hand rested at the small of my back. Hated what his touch did to me. That this was no longer a dream and there was no escape from him by simply waking up. But what I hated more was the reason he did this and lingered so close to me.

Because as I limped forward, he wanted to be at the ready to catch me. I could feel it coming from him, this need to protect me, despite no doubt loathing our connection as I did. One made the moment he touched my scars, tethering us together, and only he knew why.

In fact, I was just about to ask him when we walked through the prison entrance and straight into the last thing I expected to see. A beautiful rose garden. But it wasn’t just the pretty flowers that had me dumbstruck.

No, it was all the people.

Humans.

Laughing, looking happy and healthy. Conversing with one another as they walked the pathways like life was… well, just rosy!

“What is this?” I asked in bewilderment, making him scoff.

“What did you expect? Human slaves all in chains and each of them half starved?” he snapped, and I would have answered had it not been for my shock.

Shock that not a single person seemed to cower away from him or try to hide in his presence. Some even nodded toward him in a silent greeting.

“I don’t understand,” I admitted.

“No,you never did,”he remarked, somewhat bitterly.

“Are these people not your prisoners?” I asked, looking in awe at the little oasis in the middle of this apocalyptic world he brought upon us.

“I think you will find yourself being my only captive in this prison, Little Bird.”

I lifted my wide eyes to his, but then something must have caught his eyes because he shifted to stand behind me. His fingers curled over my shoulders before he lowered his head to my ear.

“Although even a captured bird deserves a gift, and I have been waiting to give you yours,”he whispered, before raising a hand up and pointing down the pathway.

I followed his line of sight and the second my eyes landed on the man ahead of me, I cried out in utter shock. His face turned toward me; the same astonishment mirrored in his features.

“Impossible.”This single word slipped from my lips like a dream.

Only this time it was one that The General had made a reality, making me question everything I thought I knew about him.

Because this wasn’t just a gift, it was a lifeline.

It was family.

It was my…

“Uncle!”

To be Continued in Book 2…