I lifted my hand, returning it to her shoulder and ignoring Hal’s annoyed bark at the sight of her neck, where a red handprint had formed.“Why did you save me?” she rasped, rubbing at the spot, which I knew would no doubt be sore.My eyes followed the movements of her hands, and it struck me that t
Layla’s POVIn the days after my discharge, it quickly became clear to me that despite having proven the Moon Goddess’s ‘forgiveness’, I would never quite fit in or be accepted among their ranks.Eyes trailed me wherever I went, and on more than one occasion conversations had immediately stopped as
Reno too, with the added detail that she never made eye contact. It felt like the mere fact of my survival was an offence too big for them to get over, but I was resigned to dig my heels in and look out for myself without begging for scraps of their attention as I had done for my whole life. Never
Layla’s POVThe hairs at the back of my neck rose at the sound of barely repressed rage Reno’s tone carried. I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could successfully do so she delivered a sharp backhand, letting go of my hair as I went reeling to the ground. In the moments that followed, a hig
Every eye in the room swivelled to look at me as I lifted a finger that I gently ran over my bottom lip. It came away red with blood. I hadn’t realised it until now, but when Reno backhanded me she had been wearing a ring that cut through my flesh when her blow landed and now I was bleeding.I clean
Layla’s POVDad’s message was clear. If I hoped to come out of this entire situation with any of my freedom intact, I would have to keep my head down and stop asking to go along with them for training. Even though it was Hector who ordered me to start in the first place.Hector. He was an area I sh
Carlos proved this by his next question.“Why haven’t you been on the training fields for the past couple of weeks, then?” For a brief moment, I entertained the thought of slamming the door shut in his face without replying and going about my day as usual. But that wasn’t even an option, because ev
Layla’s POVJust what was his endgame?The thought weighed heavily on my mind as I silently trailed after Carlos who, save the occasional glance over his shoulder to check if I was still following, uttered not a single word.The silence between us wasn’t uncomfortable though. In fact, it was actuall