Scorned by the Beastmen, Loved by their Healer Chapter 02

Scorned by the Beastmen, Loved by their Healer Chapter 02

I got tossed out. Thrown into a cave I didn’t recognize.
When I woke up, everything hurt.
Agony bloomed deep in my chest, like a thousand worms crawling through my veins.
I heard the god of this world. He announced how I’d end.
The punishment had begun.
With every heartbeat, I’d feel pain.
It would pile on, worse and worse, until I couldn’t take it and my mind snapped.
I wouldn’t die.
Not unless I did it myself.
I closed my eyes.
So that’s how it was.
Gotta do it on my own.
Pathetic.
I got up and staggered toward the mouth of the cave.
I came to a cliff.
A sheer drop into a sea of clouds.
If I fell, that should kill me, right?
I shut my eyes and jumped.
A second later, some brutal force whipped me back. I slammed into the ground so hard it boomed.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I opened my eyes and looked back.
A black-haired, black-eyed man stood not far away.
He wore dark robes. His fingernails were red, like dipped in blood.
Kasdan.
Prince of the dragons. Also one of the guys I was supposed to win over.
“I asked you. What are you doing?”
He walked over and yanked my arm. Scarily strong.
“Die,” I said.
He let out a cold laugh.
“If you want to die, don’t do it on dragon land.”
He scowled. “Filthy.”
I looked at him and said nothing.
He stared me down, eyes like knives.
“Planning another stunt?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Fake a suicide so I’ll feel sorry for you?”
“Sanna, you’re gross,” he spat out.
I shook my head.
“I’m not. I just want to die.”
He looked at me with pure disgust and ground his heel into my thin ankle. Pain shot up my leg. I bit down hard.
“You think I don’t know what you are?”
“My wing was injured back then,” he gritted out. “Amy saved me.”
“But you went around saying it was you.” He let out bitter laugh. “What, trying to steal her credit?”
Back then, he was still a teenager. He got hurt midair. I stayed with him in a cave and treated him.
I ran a fever and passed out.
When I woke up, I was tied to a tree, couldn’t move.
I watched Amy walk to his side and sweetly help him up.
I didn’t say another word.
It wouldn’t matter anyway.
He never believed me.
He turned and left.
I lay there a long time, unable to move.
The wind was fierce. It made me shake.
I didn’t cry.
I didn’t have tears left.
I turned from the cliff and headed deeper into the forest.
If I couldn’t die on dragon land, then I had to go to the Forbidden Forest. There were poisonous herbs there.
If a beastfolk ate enough of them, their organs would rot and they’d die.
I dragged my painful body onward. Night fell. Then morning.
I kept looking.
Finally, by a swamp, I found the plant.
Blackened leaves. A rotten stink.
I crouched down and reached for it.
“Sanna!”
A roar exploded behind me.
Before I could react, someone lifted me clean off the ground.
A massive bear paw clamped my shoulder and slammed me into the dirt.
I curled up, stunned with pain.
I looked up into furious eyes.
Skarlton.
My adoptive brother.
A bear shifter. Also one of the men I was supposed to win over.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He rushed over and grabbed my collar.
“Why are you so hell-bent on this?”
“You’re coming with me,” he decided.
He threw me over his shoulder and strode off.
I didn’t struggle.
No strength left.
He took me to a tiny, out-of-the-way hut.
Then he set me down gently and patted my head.
If this were before, I would’ve fallen for it. I would’ve thought he really cared.
But all these years, he’d only ever acted caring on the surface, then sacrificed me to keep Amy happy.
Our parents were killed by Amy’s schemes. I told him the truth. He said I was just grief-crazed and imagining things.
Sure enough, his voice was soft. But his words were vicious.
“If you die, what about Amy’s ceremony?”
“She finally made it to Luna,” he reminded me. “Don’t you dare mess it up, okay?”
I laughed.
Out loud.
“I’m about to die. Why would I ruin her ceremony?”
I stared into his eyes. “Skarlton, I’m your sister.”
Something flickered in his eyes.
Only for a second.
“Be good. Don’t cause trouble at the ceremony. When it’s over, I’ll come get you. Okay?”
He left.
The door locked.
I waited one day.
Two.
Three.
He probably forgot me again.
No food.
No water.
I curled in the corner. My lips split. My stomach burned like fire.
Pain.
My whole body hurt.
Every heartbeat felt like someone digging at me with a knife.
I was about to die.
But I couldn’t.
All I could do was wait.
Wait for someone.
Wait for an ending.
Day four.
The door opened.
A figure stood in the doorway, backlit.
I couldn’t see his face.
“Huer?”
One of my targets. A prodigy healer from the wolf tribe.
My voice was so hoarse it was barely there.
He came in.
Silent.
Lifted me off the floor.
Didn’t say a single word.