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Right He wasn’t going to stand up for ry for

And me?

I had no choice

No choice but to face what the night had in store for me

“So you better start running, little Stag,” the Elder finished in a whisper, reaching out and caressing a hand downin his face These

“How long of a head start do I have?” I h to ask

“Less and less everystupid questions,” he answered

So I pivoted and sprinted away into the darkness

13

BELLAMY

I’d grown up going to cotillion Taking etiquette lessons Learning how to flatter and banter And I kne to execute a perfect curtsey, for God’s sake

But sprinting through the woods essentially barefoot while trained hunters tracked athered in my short life

I hat you called an indoor girl Even when I went “cao anywhere without running water and electricity for her curling iron

So I ran away from the lake, because the laas mowed that direction, and I’d be easy to spot in so much open space Which tookpast a ceh by the whole night and the thought that when I was inevitably captured, I’d be fucked by a train of dudes Not even strangers—men I’d known my entire life!

I’d never been ht I ran past the cemetery and into the woods

But just like I expected, the stupid slippers were nocaught in the branches I had one hand up holding the to hold the slipper on as I stuh the forest

My eyes were adjusting to the li after me by now, and it would be over al like this

I looked all around e forest Maybe I could climb a tree, try to wait it out? But all the trees around ht feet up My stomach sank, and I could have cried