Alicia rests on a bedroll with fresh bandages and warmth on her tongue as she drinks a strong tea, every shift she makes causing pain to lance through the leg that she stretches out. She takes in even breaths to try and ignore the pain and focus on the fire before her.
Samantha sits opposite her, cleaning her gun as her Ghuls keep watch, the stomps of their heavy footfalls on the stone the only indication of where they are in the darkness.
Alicia studies the land around them as the breeze caresses her face, the cool pinch of it no longer seems so harsh. Snow has begun to melt, muddying the forest. The smell of it fills her nose, the damp air mingling with the sweet scent of the leaves.
It's the rare moments of peace she clings to beyond the walls, they're the only moments keeping her sane. Everything else is a confusing cluster of raging emotions and desperate longings she knows she needs to deprive herself of. Giving in to them would mean going back to the capital, pretending her world isn't broken, and she can't do that anymore.
Alicia lowers her gaze from the trees around them, her eyes landing on Sam before her.
"Galya told me what Ghuls are," Alicia begins, breaking the tense silence between them. Galya is sitting by the shadows of the tree-line, her revolver in hand and her back to them. "That they're those who are immune."
Sam meets her gaze, rubbing her full, cracked lips together. She lets out a breath that swirls into the air before she replies. "The process for making Ghuls died with the Faceless Queen, but the Curse didn't."
Alicia's mind has been whirling the last few days since Galya revealed to her what the Ghuls truly are. She wonders what this could mean for finding a cure, for those who are immune but already have the Curse. Would it not work on them?
She has too many questions but no answers present themselves.
"Do they remember their lives from before they became... like that?" Alicia waves towards the shadows, an outline of one of the creatures marching past without sparing either of them a glance, its footsteps sloshing through melted snow.
Sam nods and settles her elbows on her knees. "Some of them do, but even then it's hazy. It's no way to exist and they want it to end."
Pressing her lips together, Alicia doesn't allow her suspicion of that statement to show on her face.
"They're immortal creatures with no purpose beyond killing. It's what they were created for, and they don't want it anymore. The cure will end them too."
Alicia swallows the lump that begins to form in her throat. She keeps her gaze steady on the fire but a part of her wants to run back to the cabin, wants to toss a blanket over her head and forget all the Traveller tales she was told. She never wanted such things to become true.
But this is the path she now must walk. Turning back isn't an option. It never has been.
"You trust everything your Ghuls tell you?"
"Why would they have a reason to lie?" Sam snaps back.
Alicia just stares at her and Sam's jaw grinds. The girl sets her gun down with a shake of her head.
"Sorry," she mutters and rubs the back of her neck. "I just—"
"I understand," Alicia soothes, not wanting to begin conflict between them. The girl needs more people to trust, not more people to fight. "This could be how we stop the Reaper's Curse. We could save this world."
Sam's lips twitch in a small smile and she nods. "It's all I want."
It's all any of them want, but Alicia still can't deny they're putting their lives in the wrong hands.
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The Grey Blood #2
Fantasy❝ We must be prepared to sacrifice the few to save the many that will come after us. ❞ [book 2] The Grey Bloods may have dwindled in number, but the creatures still gnaw at Muovea, threatening the small measure of peace that was won when the Grand D...
