A Reign of Ruin by Lanne Garrett

Author:Lanne Garrett [Garrett, Lanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA Young Adult Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Totally Entwined Group
Published: 2024-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Growing up under the constant threat of becoming a Crow, I was taught to walk the line between anxiety and calm. Somewhere in the middle, I learned how to distinguish the survival instincts that caused anxiousness and the calmness that came with recognizing the inevitable. In Whitwick, we never really evolved from that constant state of stress and worry. Although it made us more resilient, it also left us with poor social skills. We adapted, we mainly got along, but we never really had the ability or the desire to make friends. The problem was that your friends usually ended up dead, or you were willing to trade their lives for your own. And now, after almost two decades, I had to learn how to make friends, and the idea of it was terrifying.

“Can I join you?” My voice was small and hitched with each word. I stood at the edge of the group with my lunch bag gripped in my sweaty hands. I was nervous, which was odd, considering it was my idea to be included. I glanced around and knew I looked like a scared deer, my eyes darting, looking for an escape. Aeden caught my eye, and he motioned for me to move forward.

Finn smiled from his perch on a fallen tree. “Of course, Perdi. Pull up a chunk of ground.”

“Thank you.” I sat cross-legged, my pulse a little speedy. My mouth was bone dry, and I tried, in vain, to keep my hands from shaking. It felt like trying to make a friend for the first time. Up until now, it had been all business. The change made my stomach flop. I wasn’t sure what to do next. I hadn’t planned anything beyond asking to join them.

“What did you get in your lunch?” Finn asked. He winked once. I knew he could sense my unease. They all could. But I appreciated him ignoring it.

I opened my bag. “Fruit and vegetables, mashed potatoes and a crispy square that smells like pure sugar. Why do I always get potatoes?”

“To remind you of home,” he answered. “I’ll trade you for your crispy square? I have three fruits, two cheese sandwiches, soup, mashed potatoes and sauce, three baked potatoes, vegetables with dip, cake, juice, coffee and tea. Take your pick.”

“That’s what you have for lunch? I don’t even eat that in an entire day.”

“I ate my crispy square first, then my stew and buns already,” he answered.

“No wonder you all say ten minutes isn’t enough time.” I tossed the square over. “You can have it. I don’t really like them. They’re too sweet for me.”

“Elda will be crushed.” He groaned when he bit into it. “Tastes like eating lunch in the sun, on a perfect hill, with the world in perfect order, back home.”

“It’s apples for me. They smell like my back garden growing up.” I smiled at the memory. “Nix grew several types of apples. He hoarded them like a troll and their trinkets.”

“A few times, when I was guarding the Gate, Nix brought small apple turnovers.

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