A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 67: Fresh Start

Blade POV

I was mid-hunt when Eliza found me in the forest. I'd already drank my fill, but at this point, focusing on a goal, focusing on the hunt, stalking animals and giving chase was a pretty good way to get out whatever this feeling was that was boiling under the surface. It was two days after having heard about Kiana and Ace and yet it felt like I was still in that hallway, blissfully and stupidly ignorant, in the throws of denial.

She waved a hand as she met me beneath thick lush trees, strolling casually along in jeans, a t-shirt, and sandals. "You hunted already?"

I nodded, brushing dirt off my shirt with more roughness than really necessary. It left a smear on the fabric, staining it, and I glowered at the spot.

"Hey," she said, eyeing me with morbid curiosity. "What's up with you? I haven't seen you look this perturbed since my dad called you a bootlicking stablehand."

Perturbed? I wasn't perturbed. Whatever this feeling was, it had lit a fire in my chest that was burning me from the inside out, scorching my organs and bones.

"I've never been better," I said, stalking off into the trees, following the trail of a buck I'd been chasing. Did I need this extra kill? No. Was I actually going to take it? Maybe. Probably not. But I needed to do something and right now, hunting an animal was the best I had, unless I resorted to some Lexi-level means of catharsis, which would probably get me thrown in Ace's dungeon. Wouldn't that be fucking ironic.

"Hmm, my mistake. Carry on," she said, following behind me at a slower pace like she was walking through a field of flowers. "I'm not sure what you're hoping to catch by stomping around and huffing like that though. I could hear you at the edge of the forest, no doubt all the other beasts did too."

"I like a challenge."

"I can tell," she said, sounding amused. "Any particular reason you're in the mood for a challenge?"

"No," I said, dropping to a crouch to try and catch the scent again, but I'd lost it, having not been paying enough attention.

"Would you like some help?"

I took a steadying breath, but the word came growling out anyway. "No."

I double backed, walking past her, and picked up the trail again. Eliza followed behind, a quiet pale shadow.

It was their plan along. That had to be it. Lexi heard me sneaking up on her, planted the idea of Ace and Kiana together to drive me crazy, make me see the 'error of my ways', and try to make me jealous enough to do something about it. I bet the hickey was fake, put there on purpose just to mess with me, and all those moments with Ace too, just to support her story. Lexi was just playing a long game, fabricating this entire story just to try and get me and Kiana back together again.

It was a more elaborate plan than her usual 'in your face' style, but I wouldn't put it past her to get creative. Lexi and Ace had been exhibiting a weird show of camaraderie since Kiana was sick, always hovering together, whispering, neither ever gone long. It made sense that they were planning ways to fix how broken we were, and this was just another plan, probably started after the ball had backfired so spectacularly, and Ace had probably helped her make a more clever and subtle plan. Growing up with Aros, he always had to be cunning and find ways around rules and not get caught, his ridiculous and immature attitude was simply a surprisingly good cover. And Lexi was a sociopath. The two of them working together was a volatile mix.

One thing was certain, one fact I could count on, that I was holding onto with everything I had, was that Kiana wasn't a part of it. There was no way she was in on any plot they had cooked up, especially not when there was nothing in it for her, and she wasn't one to scheme. This was all Lexi and Ace. Which meant everything had either been manipulated to look that way by the two of them without her knowledge or it really was tru--
 
Lexi was just trying to torture me and I wasn't going to let it happen anymore. It was all fake. There was no way that they could possibly be together, much less hooking up. Kiana didn't do hook-ups, she was a relationship person, she was someone who got too attached to be in it for a frivolous hook-up. And there was no way they could be together, they were friends, and sure they bantered and got along, but it would never be anything else, just friendship. If there was something between them, I would have noticed it when we'd all hung out before, I was sure of it. Things couldn't change that drastically.

Could they?

But all I could see was him picking her up and twirling her around, telling her how great she looked and seeing how happy she was, laughing in his arms.

A sharp jerk on my arm had me whirling, arms flying up, only for my foot to slip and catch air, body falling backwards, till something grabbed me by the shirt and wrenched me forward.

"Where is your head today?" Eliza said, hand still gripping a fistful of my shirt. "You almost walked right into a ditch and you lost the trail like a mile back."

I turned my head since she still had a grip on me, one of my feet caught on the edge as she pulled me upright, and there was the deep ditch I'd almost tumbled face first into, filled with leaves, dirt, rocks, twigs, and some water that hadn't yet been absorbed or evaporated from our last rain. I should have been bothered by my almost fall, but it didn't even matter.

What if it was true?

Kiana leaving after she promised she wouldn't had been bad enough. Saying all those things and hating me was even worse. But this? This was different. This was more. What if it was true? What if she was with him and she was happy, like I had been incapable of making her? What if she removed our bond next and I was truly left with nothing? Kiana didn't need anyone, least of all me, so at this point it was a matter of time.

"Hey," Eliza said, eyes softening as the hand on my shirt flattened against my chest. "What happened?"

I sidestepped away from her touch, mindful of the ditch this time.

"Do you know what I've done since you and I have been apart?" I asked, staring past her through the trees. Kiana was right. All this time, she was right about me. They all were. Every horrible thought in my head that I'd tried to ignore for years was right.

There were so many trees, you couldn't even see anything else, sunlight filtering through the thick canopy to make pinholes of light dance across the forest floor. It was a beautiful sight and I wanted nothing more than to wreck it all.