Unchanged by Jessica Brody

Author:Jessica Brody
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780374301781
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

37

OFF-LINE

The last time my hands were bound was in the year 1609, when the townspeople of London believed I was a witch and arrested me. I had shown my special abilities in public. I had moved faster than their eyes could keep up with.

I had done it to save Lyzender.

And it landed me in prison. On trial for my life, and eventually, on a stake being burned alive.

That should have been my first clue right there. That should have alerted me to the fact that being with him is not safe. That it is not my true purpose.

But it didn’t.

I was too far over the edge to recognize the dangers of loving him.

I won’t make that mistake twice.

He doesn’t hold on to my shackles as he guides me through the camp. He must know I’m not going to try to run away again. Not when the truth has been revealed to me and this debilitating poison is coursing through my blood, keeping me weak.

The bottom line is, I need another plan.

“So,” I say to him, jogging slightly to walk by his side. The minimal effort leaves me winded. “Are you going to tell me how you got here?”

He flashes me a sideways look. “Whatever do you mean?” There’s a playfulness mixed in with his acidic tone.

“Last time I saw you was in the year 2032. You were dying in a bed in Cody’s town house.”

He lets out a biting laugh. “I bet that pleased you, huh?”

“What? Of course not.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Before I can analyze where they’re coming from.

But it’s evident to me now that they’re coming from the past. From the girl who stood by his bedside weeping over his frail body, wondering if she would ever see him alive again.

Not the girl I am now.

He kicks a rock with the tip of his shoe. “Right.” His sarcasm hangs in the air, swirling into the dust that’s being roused by our footsteps.

I open my mouth to protest but to be honest, I don’t know how to handle this brooding, rancorous boy I’ve never met before. The hopeless romantic spouting devotion and poetry? I had prepared myself for that. I had spent the last year building up a tolerance to it.

But this?

I just don’t know what to say.

So I settle for the truth.

“I certainly didn’t feel that way then,” I admit softly.

He stops and faces me. “And now?”

I try to turn away but he grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. “No,” he asserts, “you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to avoid me. Not anymore.”

I tremble at his touch. It warms my glacial skin. For a moment, the shivers stop and I feel my blood heat again. Then his hand falls away and the cold front returns.

“And now what?” he asks. “You’d step over my dead body and keep on walking?”

I shake my head. Hoping it’s enough. Knowing that it’s not.

“What?” he demands.

“I…”

He bends to meet my downcast eyes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.