Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 105

NADINE’S P.O.V

I let out an audible sigh of relief, my legs giving way as I collapsed onto the nearest couch. Amy grinned, seemingly more enthusiastic than I was. She cheered, throwing her arms around Joshua in a tight hug.

I was happy, I truly was, but I just needed a second because their agreement meant that we were officially going back on the hunt. We’d barely been here for a day, but I liked it. I felt safe here and that wasn’t something I felt very often.

We’d have to leave, we’d have to go back to the bunker to try and kill Trent. I’d be leaving this solace once more.

"Hey," Rowan lowered himself into the spot next to me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded slowly, letting my head rest against his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me and pressed a soft kiss on my forehead.

"I’ll join in your victory celebration soon," I assured him but he chuckled underneath his breath.

"We aren’t leaving right away," he told me and I stilled. "It took a lot for them to agree and they don’t want to waste resources and people. They still have a lot of discussions to do so it might take a while before we leave."

"I didn’t-"

"You didn’t have to. I know you, princess."

I was relieved I didn’t have to tell him how I felt. A part of me felt selfish for thinking that way, for wanting to stay here and rest when people could be in danger and/or dying. The people in the bunker deserved the truth.

"It’s okay to think about yourself once in a while," he whispered to me. "It doesn’t make you a bad person."

"Doesn’t it?" I asked with a humorless laugh. "if I don’t try to help them, then I’m as compliant as my dad."

Rowan’s entire body went rigid at those words. He muttered a curse under his breath and stood to his feet. Before I could ask where he was going, he grabbed my arm, tugging me along with him and pulled me into the bedroom.

Amy and Joshua didn’t even pay attention to us, they were by the kitchen rejoicing with a drink. I doubted they even noticed as we walked away. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Once we were safely in the room, Rowan shut the door behind us and turned to me. "You are nothing like your father."

"Aren’t I? I was with some of the women today. I have no idea how food is made in the bunkers. I had no idea about the soldiers until I met you. I was so privileged and spoiled. I was complicit in what was happening. Think about it, Rowan."

"You had no idea."

"But I did," I whispered. "I knew something was up from the first day we heard that monster in the bunker. Do you remember?"

His jaw clenched. "Of course I do."

"I should’ve done something."

’What would you have done, Nadine? I didn’t do anything either in case you forgot. Sometimes you have to be smart and play the long game. Trent would’ve had us both looking like fools. You know how he is."

He gripped both my shoulders in a firm but soft grip.

"I’m not going to give you a pep talk, princess, because you don’t need one. You were never complicit because you never knew. If you’d found out about this in the beginning, what would you have done? Would you have stayed silent?"

I thought about it. A few months ago, if I’d known what I knew now, would I have stayed? No. I didn’t even need to think hard about that one. I liked my privileges, but not at this expense, not at the expense of people’s lives.

Rowan didn’t wait for me to answer. "You know you wouldn’t have. So stop beating yourself up about it. You deserve this, Nadine. You deserve to rest, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

We joined the others after. I still wasn’t big on the celebration, but at least I wasn’t trying to hide myself.

Amy and Joshua drank from a vodka bottle while Rowan and I just sat together in silence. Their agreement was a victory- a small one, but a victory nonetheless.

We were sitting in silence when I heard a voice blare through the air. "Lunch time"

It repeated the same phrase over and over again. Everyone stilled, confused as to where the sound was coming from. I followed the sound towards a small radio seated on the table by the door.

"Did the radio just speak to us?" I asked.

Joshua made his way over to me, picking it up carefully. He tried to turn it off, but it wouldn’t budge. He tuned it, turning it to another frequency and the noise stopped instantly.

"Cool," he whispered, more to himself than to me.

He tuned it again, turning it back and we were hit with the same monotonous voice screaming lunch time to us.

"Stop it, please!" Amy groaned, hands over her ears. "I don’t need to hear that."

The noise stopped immediately and I let out a relieved groan. "What the hell was that?"

"They have all the radios tuned to the same frequency. That’s how they pass information. It’s like I told you with the bunkers. It’s wicked smart," Joshua explained. "I wonder who was behind it, maybe we can use it to our advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"I have an idea. Let’s go for lunch."

We tried to get Joshua to tell us his idea, but he didn’t. He just whistled to himself as we made our way to the lunch area.

It was an open seating space, right near the fountain. People sat wherever they wanted- on the floors, on the steps of houses or in front of little tables. Everyone seemed to be content doing their own thing and no one really stared at us.

Darla was handing out food and she gave me a small smile when she saw me which I was more than happy to return.

We planned to sit on our own, away from the chatter when I heard a voice call out to me.

"Nadine!" I turned to find Solomon. He was seated at a table with three other people around him. "Come sit with us."

I hesitated for a moment, casting a wary glance towards Rowan who just shrugged. "They’re in charge. I don’t think we can refuse."

We slowly made our way over. As we got closer, I noticed Lilian and Edith were there along with a random man that I’d never seen before. He had one tatted hand thrown lazily over the back of Lilian’s chair but his eyes were fixed on Rowan with a death glare.

"I’m guessing you did something to him," I mumbled.

Rowan’s face was blank. "All I did was tell him the truth."

We set our plates down and sat opposite the four of them. It was almost amusing how we seemed to mirror each other. There were four of them and four of us. I sat directly in front of Edith who winked at me.

"Good," Solomon smiled. "Now, we can talk."