“I’ll do better.” I’ll prove to him that I can survive on this side of The Divide. He can give me a dagger. Teach me to use the bow. I’ll never be defenseless again.

He yanks the blade from the ground and twists the hilt in his hand, scarlet drops splattering on his bloodstained boots as his head shakes. “You will go back to your people.”

“No.” How can he even consider such a thing? I won’t let him throw us away because of one foolish mistake. “Ever, I love you.”

He looks me dead in the eye and says, “Take your love and return to Rosehill.”

Finally, I find my voice. My courage. My backbone. “No. I’m not going back there.” I refuse to leave him.

“I do not want you here.”

“That isn’t true.” I know it’s a lie, but his words are like a heel to my heart. Breaking. Crushing.

He shoots to his feet, his dagger clattering to the ground next to the carcass. “Don’t you see? I cannot protect you! Maybe before, but now, it is only me. This is the way it must be.”

I can feel the fight leaking from my bones, leaving me hollow. Cold. Shaken.

“Please, don’t do this.” I’m willing to plead with him until my dying breath, but something in the hard set of his jaw and the flint in his eyes tells me it’s no use.

He stalks into the carriage, returning with my slippers, leaving bloodied handprints on the pristine silk. “Put these on.”

“No. I won’t leave you.”

“Put them on. Please. I am begging.” Just when I think there is no way for him to force me to put on those shoes, I see the tears glistening in his eyes.

He is truly afraid of losing me, and instead of fighting for me, he’s giving up.

On me. On us. On the future we planned only a few hours ago.

When I look away, my gaze catches on the dead wolf.

Fear swells like a scream in my chest. I haven’t even been in this territory for two whole days, and already I’ve met one of the beasts that prowl these forests. With Ever out hunting, foraging, searching for food to sustain not only himself, but also me , my life would be confined to that wagon. If we were ever blessed with a child, how could I possibly hope to keep a son or daughter safe in this place?

Compared to Ever and the rest of his people, I have been raised in the lap of luxury; I don’t know how to fight. I know how to bake desserts the man I love doesn’t even eat. I don’t know how to cook meals for him, so he will have to either teach me or do that himself as well.