The Chateau (Chateau 1)

I tried to lift it…and I couldn’t.

I turned to the girls. “Help me!”

Melanie dropped her knife in the snow and ran to me with bloody hands.

Bethany did too.

“Pick up that side,” I told Melanie.

Melanie got the corner and we tried, but we still couldn’t do it.

Magnus’s arm stuck out, and he didn’t move.

“Bethany!” I pointed to the side. “Get that side.”

She looked down at his arm and hesitated.

I knew exactly why. “Please, Bethany…please.”

She still hesitated.

“Please.” Tears burned my cheeks. “Not him.”

She swallowed her anger and bent down to help.

We got the wood off him.

He lay there, passed out.

I gathered him in my arms and dragged him from the building and across the snow, away from all the buildings that continued to burn. When he was safe, I set him down then looked him over. Other than a few scratches and bruises, he was okay. His chest rose and fell as he continued to breathe. “Oh, thank god.” I sat in the snow beside him and knew it was time for me to go.

I’d done what I had to do.

He would be fine there. The other guards would help him if he needed it.

Suddenly, his eyes opened, and he sat upright quickly, taking a deep breath like he had stopped breathing.

I fell back, jerking away at his sudden movement.

He breathed hard as he looked at his surroundings, seeing the fire that burned everything to ash. His nostrils were flared, and his eyes were panicked. His hand moved to his chest, like he needed to check that he was actually alive.

Then he looked at me.

And stopped breathing.

His brown eyes slowly narrowed in a look of pure rage. His nostrils flared once again, his skin turned beet red, and the vein emerged down his forehead, so angry that his body morphed into a whole different appearance. His jaw clenched, and he breathed deeper, like he wanted to kill me.

I scooted away, scared of him for the first time.

“I saved you…”

I kept moving.

“I fucking saved you.”

I pushed myself to my feet.

He got to his quickly and rushed me.

I sprinted away and tripped, falling into the snow. I turned onto my back and pushed myself away, terrified.

He stood over me, his hands shaking, his body heaving, like he wanted to grab me by the neck with both hands until blood broke the skin and drowned my airway so I couldn’t breathe. His entire body shook as he restrained himself from tearing me apart. He could barely get the words out of his mouth. “Run…before I kill you.”