Chapter 13

Emjay

"Among the ruins of despair, together we will find the strength to build a future filled with joy." ~ Emjay

While we walk farther into the prison I grew up in, my heart aches with every sight.

The tents, ragged and torn, tell stories of countless nights of despair.

The smoke from the fire pits combined with the acrid smell of body odor creates a pungent aroma that's hard to ignore.

The children's hollow eye-sockets and the women's weary faces speak of a life stripped of joy.

How can Georgia be the only one left from my time here? Why has she aged? How are there boys? Is she the only one whose clock isn't ticking?

Question after question comes to mind, but it's more important for me to give these women answers before I get my own.

"Anyone have questions?"

Hands raise. "Violet, you first," Georgia suggests.

"Do we have to accept this mate?"

I shake my head. "I don't want to scare you, but take some time to decide before rejecting him. We don't know for sure, but the monsters who kept us here, we suspect, became the way they were because their mates died or rejected them."

Impacted by my words, fear and confusion wash over their faces. Despite their emotions, Violet, the only other female sired by Basil, challenges, "Why should that affect them? They don't even know us."

I turn to Damian to help answer. It's eerie how he gets me without words.

"I hadn't met Emjay when I heard the mating call, but I raced to get to her. Even though I was only eighteen. I didn't know my soul lacked until I felt her. When the witch destroyed the tether pulling us toward one another, I felt as if she'd ripped the very essence of my being from my core. All that remained was a shell of myself. I'm fortunate to have a close-knit family. While I didn't tell them about losing Emjay; I still leaned on them every day for comfort. It would have been easier to lose a limb than believing my mate had died."

I couldn't look at him while he spoke. Guilt overwhelms me. Logically, I know I couldn't have prevented our separation. Logic rarely wins when I'm having an internal argument.

"Your mate won't suffer alone. Rejecting him, losing him, will make all the punishments you endured seem like a mosquito bite." My words express a truth I continue to ignore. Something that is harder to do every time Damian looks at me with longing in his gaze.

"How much time do we have to decide?" Violet's tone sounds worried.

"They will wait an eternity," Damian whispers.

"When was the last time any of you had enough to eat?" Shay interrupts at the sound of stomachs growling.

Georgia answers, "We ran out of food days ago. We've been boiling roots in water. The only thing left in the garden." I remember when the garden produced plenty of vegetables. The earth beneath these women has wasted away in tandem with their lives.

"May I ask my mate and my sister's mate to bring food?" Shay adds.

Georgia's gaze sweeps across each woman in her care. Her story is one of countless others. She's just like me—forced into servitude and stripped of her identity all her life.

Each woman here has a story of pain and survival carved into their faces and bodies.

They have endured unimaginable hardships. Finally, their physical suffering has ended. The emotional pain will take longer.

When none objects to my daughter's request, Shay and Priscilla head back toward their mates.

"Can I go with you? Just to look?" Niki calls after them.

While my girls gather sustenance for everyone, I continue answering questions.

Georgia eventually looks at Tara to boldly ask her, "What's your story?"

Tara inhales deeply. With her arms crossed, and a major attitude laced with sadness, she tells everyone her story. "I've known my mate all my life. Only I'm eighteen and he's fifty-eight. The ticking is just one way for us demigods to know who our mates are. Despite Helios' mark and blessing at the mating ceremony, he claims I'm too young. I need to live more."

"I'm only eighteen. Will that bother my mate?" the one Georgia called Irida worries.

Tara shakes her head. "Nikolaos has watched me grow up. I believe he's struggling to see me as a woman and not a child. Your mate will only see the woman he's been waiting for his whole life."

All the ladies gave us their names throughout the evening, but I've never been very good at remembering names.

Damian and I exchange a glance, knowing that this is just the beginning. Together, we will help all of them, and these women will finally find the peace and happiness they deserve.

Anjal and Jayce arrive. Both have two deer across their shoulders. While the girls carry bags of items, the other men probably shoved into the guys' arms when they learned the women hadn't eaten in days.

They will never go hungry again. Not if I or their mates have any say in the matter.

Soon the smell of freshly cooked deer fills the air. The aroma triggers a glimmer of hopefulness. The women's faces, once etched with despair, now show signs of relief and anticipation.