Origin (Lux #4)(119)
In the pale moonlight he looked tall and strong as an ox. His long black hair hung over his shoulders and blew gently in the wind like dark feathers. He wore thick pants, a vest over his bare chest. My face warmed to my ears as he lifted me effortlessly from the horse.
Stepping onto solid ground, my saddle-sore legs wobbled, but I kept my composure. I quickly smoothed down my wind-blasted hair and wrinkled clothes. I probably looked as bedraggled as I felt.
Seeing a patch of singed fabric on my dress, the memories came flooding back in a river of fire. Mama. Papa. And Jeb. Oh, Jeb.
I scanned the dark, night-bathed surroundings of the mission. The quiet whistle of wind over the desert filled me with a consuming emptiness I couldn’t escape.
Just then, I felt a hand on my arm. The warrior held Ella out to me, and I took her into my arms. The sight of her face, so sweet and utterly peaceful in sleep, only twisted the knife of sorrow deeper in my throat.
“You can stay here,” the Apache said. “The fathers will protect you for a time.”
“Thank you,” I said softly. “For everything.” Suddenly, words felt like little rocks in my mouth, but I forced myself on. “I…remember your face but not your name.”
“Yahnuiyo,” he said. “Yahn.”
I didn’t dare meet his gaze. “It’s so strange to see you again. And under these circumstances…”
He turned his face in the direction of Haydenville. “My people did not burn your home,” he said, somehow answering the very question I hadn’t dared to ask. “Or your village.”
“Then who did?” I asked quietly.
Yahn’s gaze was firm on me. “May we never have to find out.”
I flexed my grip over Ella. Something in his tone made me want her as close as possible.
“Leave if you can,” he said. “Go far from these desert lands. Take your sister.”
His words sent a shiver over me. Perhaps sensing this, he softened. “I am sorry,” he said. “For the loss of your brother. I regret deeply that I could not save him.” The sincerity in his voice stung my heart like a hot needle.
He sighed and took up his horse’s reins. “Farewell.”
“You’re leaving us?”
“The fathers will take care of you. They are good men.”
He mounted his horse. I took a halting step forward. “Will I ever see you again?” The words had tumbled out before I could stop them. I immediately snapped my gaze away, but then looked back.
“Perhaps, Maggie Davis. Perhaps.”
The Catholic friars opened their gates warily, eyeing us in the faint candlelight. When I explained what had happened, they exchanged grim frowns. People had been uneasy enough after hearing about Buena. To find out that it had happened again sent a chill through the air. Some didn’t want us to be allowed entrance, afraid the Apaches would follow to finish the job.
But the Father Superior stepped up from the shadows and spoke one phrase. “Suffer the little children to come unto me.”
It was all he needed to say. The friars opened the gates.
When they had settled Ella and me into their spare quarters in the nuns’ wing, I pulled Ella into my arms on the lumpy, straw-filled mattress. The room was barren, cold, and deathly quiet. So quiet, we had no choice but to face everything that had happened, everything we’d lost.
I was now all Ella had in the world. How could I possibly take care of her? How could I be her mama and papa when I was practically a kid myself? Lying there with my sister, I’d never felt so small or helpless. I didn’t want her to see my tears, but then I noticed that she was crying softly. She looked up into my eyes, trembling.
“Jeb,” she said, her voice hoarse and weak with sorrow.
The sound of his name on her lips broke me. I took her into my arms, unable to stop the flood of grief. Clinging to each other on the little bed, Ella and I wept well into the night.
Get tangled up in our Entangled Teen titles…
Hover by Melissa West
On Earth, Ari Alexander was taught to never peek, but if she hopes to survive life on her new planet, Log, her eyes must never shut. Because Zeus will do anything to save the Ancients from their dying planet, and he has a plan. On Loge, nothing is as it seems…and no one can be trusted.
Blurred by Tara Fuller
Cash’s problems only leave him alone when he’s with Anaya, Heaven’s beautiful reaper. But Anya’s dead, and Cash’s soul resides in an expired body, making him a shadow walker, able to move between worlds. As the lines between life and death blur, Anaya and Cash find themselves falling helplessly over the edge...
Naturals by Tiffany Truitt
Ripped away from those she loves most, Tess is heartbroken as her small band of travelers reaches the Isolationist camp in the mysterious and barren Middlelands. Desperate to be reunited with James, the forbidden chosen one who stole her heart, she wants nothing to do with the rough Isolationists, who are without allegiance in the war between the Westerners and Easterners. But having their protection, especially for someone as powerful as Tess, may come at a cost.
Get tangled up in our Entangled Teen titles…
The Liberator by Victoria Scott
When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long...and old demons die hard. Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.