The Art of Blood and Power (Book 2 in The Gifted Trilogy)

6- Weaknesses of the Mind

Porter and I had gotten into the routine of taking a late afternoon run together. It was the only time of the day that Porter didn't have any guard duties before sundown, which was when I was required to be back in the castle. When Kess had first informed me of this new rule, I had fought with him for an hour to no prevail. He wouldn't budge on the matter and, after the kidnapping incident, I didn't have a very strong platform to argue on.

Still, I made sure that our run lasted longer than it took for the sun to go down to spite him and was always met by annoyed guards who had been sent out looking for me. After a few days of the same pattern, they began to simply wait for us by the entrance to the forest trail Porter and I always took, not bothering anymore to search for us any further.

On this day more than others, I was itching to get out of the castle, so at the first sight of Porter walking towards me with his shorts and running shoes on, I took off, not bothering to look behind me to see if Porter was keeping up.

Porter eventually reached my side and together we took off into the forest, my chest becoming lighter under the canopy of the thick trees. Our run was something we did in silence, not wasting our breath on anything except to keep pace with one another. Sometimes I'd feel the urge to close my eyes, if only for a second, and it almost felt like the past few months had never happened and we were just Porter and Wren, taking a run together after a day of working in his father's fields.

Back when my biggest worry was making enough money to put food on the table for Tessa.

My heart tightened at the desperate yearning to go back to the way things were, if only for a minute, when I hadn't doubted every single choice I made.

But of course, I was eventually forced to open my eyes again and that moment faded back into reality, finding my only solace in the fact that Porter was still beside me.

Our usual running route was eight miles and halfway into our run we would come across a river stream. Oftentimes we stopped there to catch our breath and drink from the clear blue water. As we came across the river on our latest run, Porter had cast me a look, silently asking me if I wanted to stop, as he always did when we got to the river stream, allowing me to decide what we did.

Seeing as it was a hotter day than usual and I was already sweating heavily, I slowed my pace to a stop, pulling off my shirt as I did. Porter looked over, alarmed. "What are you doing?"

"I've got to keep you on your toes somehow, Collins" I teased, throwing my shirt beside the base of a tree before kicking my shoes off as well and shooting him a troublemaking smile. "Can't have us falling into the same routine, can we?"

And without another moment's delay, I walked into the stream, moving further out until the cool water was up to my sports bra. Tilting my head back towards the setting sun, I called out, "come on in, the water is great."

Porter let out a huff of laughter but said nothing in return. Keeping my eyes closed, I felt a triumphant smile wash across my face at the sound of a loud splash. Turning to look over my shoulder, I watched as a shirtless Porter slowly made his way towards me, a look of mischief on his face.

"Oh no," I giggled, backing away from him and extending my arms in a playful defense. "Don't you dare even think about-"

But before I could finish my sentence, Porter was lunging towards me, grabbing me by my waist and pushing me backwards until I lost my balance and my entire body went underwater. Laughing as I broke through the surface, I sent a wave of water splashing towards Porter, who was now completely drenched but grinning cheekily anyway.

"You little shit!" I shrieked, jumping forward and grabbing him by the shoulders, dunking his head under the water and letting out another scream as he came up for air and shook his head like a dog, spraying me with water.