Bad Day

"Elara," I manage to say, a few seconds later, since neither of them seems to notice my presence.I expect her to startle. To sit up quickly and look guilty— I don't know why I expect this exactly, but I expect it anyway.She doesn't do it.Instead, my wife turns her head toward me without moving anything else, she looks at me and sighs through her nose like I am a huge inconvenience. Then she turns her head again, looking up at the sky like I’m not here. "What are you doing, Elara?" I push, "Why are you soaking wet? What is going on?""We jumped in the lake, swam a little," she responds, voice calm, "And now we're drying off in the sun. It's not that complicated.”“But wh—““Can you leave?” She interrupts me, “You're fucking up the vibe. We’re connecting with nature and I know you’re not into that, so… leave."I do not leave. I do not move. I just stand here and look at my wife lying on another man's body while they’re supposedly ‘connecting with nature’ and my brain just goes comp

Best Friends

After I eat the worst breakfast I've ever eaten in my entire life, I find myself in the most lost, bored state of my life.This is not a condition I'm familiar with. I don't get bored. I have never, as an adult, had nothing to do—there is always something requiring my attention. There is always a problem to solve or a decision to make or someone waiting on my response.But there is nothing to do here. Literally nothing.I've already had my two hours of allowed work. I've already made myself the worst breakfast to ever be made with human hands. And it's only ten in the morning.I sit on the back of my cabin and look at the trees because some people enjoy nature, but the trees do nothing to keep me entertained.All I can do right now is think. I worry for a bit about the terrible situation with the wild rogues, but to be completely honest, I mostly think about Elara. And how she completely lost her mind because of nothing. I’ve been way worse before and she has never reacted like this.

Disclosure

Elara’s POVI spend most of the day with Adrian and it resets my brain. By the afternoon, I feel like someone grabbed my hand and pulled me out from underwater—and I had been underwater for five years, so I was drowning and the fresh air feels more freeing than ever before.Being around Adrian for hours doing nothing and talking about everything reminded me of who I really am. Of who I was before Grayhound swallowed me whole and spat me out into this valley, without any will to live left. Adrian’s alpha energy fed my child the way his dumbass father should be doing, which has me more awake and energetic than I've been in over a month.Various producers tried to get us to go back to the rest of the group throughout the day, but we simply didn't, and eventually they accepted this, brought us food, and told us to do whatever we wanted until six PM.Apparently, after six PM, we have a mandatory situation with our respective spouses."How angry do you think they're going to be this time?

I Knew It

"Move," I demand, trying to run faster. "I'm moving," Kael growls. We are still terrible at this but we are technically progressing.There are two people running behind us—an assistant producer who is not Mariah, and a random camera guy. We find the clue immediately, right where I saw it, on a laminated card on a stick.Kael doesn’t mention anything about how right I was, he simply picks it up and reads it. Two second later, he blinks slowly and shows me his annoyance before making his face completely devoid of emotion again. “Read the clue out loud, please,” the producer instructs. "Before moving to the next clue," he starts, in a flat tone, "Partners must share one compliment with each other. Both must participate."Kael lifts his eyes to me. I look back at him. The mutual understanding is immediate—we do not want to do this. We are united against it, actually. And it’s the first thing we have agreed on since we got married. We both turn to the assistant producer at exactly the

What's Love Got To Do With It

We stay in absolute awkward silence for about three minutes before we hear laughter and then female shrieks cutting through the trees. Paulie and Olivia, probably racing each other or fighting or both. Whatever it is, they're having fun.And here I am. Sitting in the grass with a man who faked an injury to avoid saying something nice about me. This is absolutely unsalvageable, isn’t it? "Do you want to just go back?" I finally ask, deciding to give up completely. Kael startles a little, like he'd forgotten I was sitting right next to him, which is not even surprising at this point. He frowns and turns to look at me."No. I want to stay here as long as possible so we can avoi—""I mean go back completely. To Grayhound," I interrupt him, "We've lost the plot, Kai. You haven't even tried to act like a devoted husband since day one and I'm starting to not care enough about you to act mad anymore. We're just not into each other and I think that's obvious to everyone watching. It's starti

Back Again

Kael doesn’t move or say anything for a few seconds, but then he finally moves and turns to me. He ends the distance and stares into my soul.“You really mean that?” he asks. Immediately, I nod, “You would be fine with me marrying another woman?”“Another woman would be a lot easier. It’s going to sting because it’s her,” I admit. Once again, Kael only looks confused, but how can he not? This is probably the first time in our relationship he’s actually listened to what I’m saying and put some thought into it, “I don’t like her, Kael. We don’t like each other, trust me.”“I know that,” he scoffs, then frowns, “But at least she has a reason. What is your reason?”“Huh?” I ask, taken aback, “What the hell is her reason?”“Don’t play dumb, you know,” he says, but I simply blink because no. I don’t know, actually, “You mother is the reason her family left Halycan, about twenty-two years ago. Your mother destroyed her family with witchcraft. She is certain you know this.”“How—how in the ac