Read Online The General's Daughter (Snow and Ash #1) by Heather Knight - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Heather Knight
Ads: Link
go. Sure, maybe I’ll make it out of their encampment, but then what? Girls on their own—they don’t make it, and if they do, they wish they hadn’t. There are so many ways I can die out there, and being someone’s dinner isn’t even the worst. My God. This can’t be how it ends. There’s a sharp rap on the door before it opens. Talon pokes his head inside, and his mouth opens as though he’s going to say something like you can come out now or would you like some more nearly rotten peanut butter . The words die on his lips.
He pushes into the room and carefully shuts the door. “You heard us.”
There’s no use denying it. The evidence is all over me—the shaking alone gives me away. I have to swallow a couple times before I can speak. “We both knew it would happen. Either by him or by you.”
Talon chews his lips and pushes himself off the door. He picks me up and sits me on the bed and eases down beside me.
“I’m sorry. This wasn’t in the plans.”
How fucking funny is that? He’s sorry. The guy hates me. He’s going to saw my neck in half.
I wipe a hand over my face. “When you do it, will you please make it quick? I mean, I don’t want to know it’s coming.”
I can’t help it. I explode into ugly sobs.
Talon tilts his chin, inhales sharply, and presses my head to his chest. I crave his touch, this tiny proof that he is, after all, human. But I can’t do this. He’s my executioner. I shove myself away from him and wipe my face. My chest still heaves, but I stifle the pointless sobs.
“People hate me. I know that. Some of it I even deserve. Who wouldn’t hate the girl who dresses in silk and eats steak when everyone else eats scraps? I didn’t choose it, but that doesn’t matter. And when I shaved my head and tended bar in that rat hole, people treated me like I was dirt. It didn’t matter that I had nowhere else to go, that no one else was willing to pay me under the table.”
“You could’ve—”
“No, I couldn’t,” I snarl. “Go home and live in that house? Go to hell, Talon. That lying son of a bitch should have told us about Joanna and Misty. I wouldn’t have thought she was some creepy stalker. I would have treated her like a sister. Mom wouldn’t have had to hear about all this on the day she found out she was going to lose both breasts and all her hair. I would have been a pole dancer before I’d have gone home.”
His face pales, and he draws back.
“It’s been an ugly fucking life, even when I was young and didn’t know it. I just wish—” I swallow back another explosion of tears. I was about to admit that I’d dreamed of doing a better job, of having my own family one day and giving them all the love I’d never had.
Talon brushes the hair back from my face. His expression twists as though he’s in pain. It’s sick, the hope this gives me. It’s bloody sick.
“I told you he wasn’t coming,” I remind him.
“Yes, he is,” he insists.
I spread my hands as though to say, you see him anywhere?
He takes my face between his hands. “He’s going to come, and General Barry’s going to take him, and you’re going to be okay.”
I try to shake my head, but he won’t let me.
“Listen,” he bites out. “You’re not going to die. I won’t let you.” He crushes me to him, my breasts to his chest, his lips to mine.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I feel so desperate and frightened, like I’m falling off the edge of a cliff and Talon’s hand is the only rope that can save me. I cry, and he drowns me in kisses. I welcome them. I want him to touch me. I want to feel, at least for a moment, that I’m alive, that there’s something good and beautiful still left for me.
I let him take my top off. This time he takes his off too, and the crisp tuft of curls on his torso rubs against my bare skin. I close my eyes, reveling in the feeling. “Please,” I whisper. “Make me feel alive.”
He shudders, and before I can so much
He pushes into the room and carefully shuts the door. “You heard us.”
There’s no use denying it. The evidence is all over me—the shaking alone gives me away. I have to swallow a couple times before I can speak. “We both knew it would happen. Either by him or by you.”
Talon chews his lips and pushes himself off the door. He picks me up and sits me on the bed and eases down beside me.
“I’m sorry. This wasn’t in the plans.”
How fucking funny is that? He’s sorry. The guy hates me. He’s going to saw my neck in half.
I wipe a hand over my face. “When you do it, will you please make it quick? I mean, I don’t want to know it’s coming.”
I can’t help it. I explode into ugly sobs.
Talon tilts his chin, inhales sharply, and presses my head to his chest. I crave his touch, this tiny proof that he is, after all, human. But I can’t do this. He’s my executioner. I shove myself away from him and wipe my face. My chest still heaves, but I stifle the pointless sobs.
“People hate me. I know that. Some of it I even deserve. Who wouldn’t hate the girl who dresses in silk and eats steak when everyone else eats scraps? I didn’t choose it, but that doesn’t matter. And when I shaved my head and tended bar in that rat hole, people treated me like I was dirt. It didn’t matter that I had nowhere else to go, that no one else was willing to pay me under the table.”
“You could’ve—”
“No, I couldn’t,” I snarl. “Go home and live in that house? Go to hell, Talon. That lying son of a bitch should have told us about Joanna and Misty. I wouldn’t have thought she was some creepy stalker. I would have treated her like a sister. Mom wouldn’t have had to hear about all this on the day she found out she was going to lose both breasts and all her hair. I would have been a pole dancer before I’d have gone home.”
His face pales, and he draws back.
“It’s been an ugly fucking life, even when I was young and didn’t know it. I just wish—” I swallow back another explosion of tears. I was about to admit that I’d dreamed of doing a better job, of having my own family one day and giving them all the love I’d never had.
Talon brushes the hair back from my face. His expression twists as though he’s in pain. It’s sick, the hope this gives me. It’s bloody sick.
“I told you he wasn’t coming,” I remind him.
“Yes, he is,” he insists.
I spread my hands as though to say, you see him anywhere?
He takes my face between his hands. “He’s going to come, and General Barry’s going to take him, and you’re going to be okay.”
I try to shake my head, but he won’t let me.
“Listen,” he bites out. “You’re not going to die. I won’t let you.” He crushes me to him, my breasts to his chest, his lips to mine.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I feel so desperate and frightened, like I’m falling off the edge of a cliff and Talon’s hand is the only rope that can save me. I cry, and he drowns me in kisses. I welcome them. I want him to touch me. I want to feel, at least for a moment, that I’m alive, that there’s something good and beautiful still left for me.
I let him take my top off. This time he takes his off too, and the crisp tuft of curls on his torso rubs against my bare skin. I close my eyes, reveling in the feeling. “Please,” I whisper. “Make me feel alive.”
He shudders, and before I can so much
Similar Books
