Chapter 53 somewhere far

~Nadia~

I needed to go as far away from Ian as possible. I feel disgusted by him to the core. Once a playboy, always a playboy. Such a fool I was to wait for him, hoping he would come one day.

Where was the map that grandpa uses? I needed to get out of Ivaris and go somewhere up north. I changed into more comfortable clothes and packed some food and clothes as quickly as possible.

Poor Andreas, I wrote an apology note for him as well and another note for grandparents and Giselle. I left part of my earnings along with the letter, hoping that Andreas continues to send them my allowance, at least for Giselle's sake.

I ripped the letter meant for Ian into a thousand pieces and left home. The train station was in Ivaris Central, which was only a mile away by the shortcut grandpa showed me. There was a long line of people at the ticket station because of the rush hour.

As I stood in the line and marveled at the granite facades lit with giant lanterns, I saw the same man we saw at the fair yesterday, the same jacket and hat, running through the vaulted hallway onto the crowded platform.

"Noah...!" I ran after him, wondering if he would stop if it was really Noah.

He froze for just a beat but didn't look back, and by the time I reached him, he started running again.

"Noah, stop!"

He jumped onto the tracks and disappeared before I reached the edge of the platform.

"Where are you going, little bird?" Someone blocked my way when I was returning to the ticket counter. Where did I see this face with so much malice?

"I knew there was something fishy when I saw you in the barracks. So, you are Noah's accomplice?"

Ah, this is the jerk who slapped me back when I protested about him touching me. Mason had come to my rescue then. What was his name? Andrew?

"Was that really Noah that ran across the tracks? Why are you chasing him?"

"He is Johann Barnekow, a Prussian spy, and now a convict who escaped from the prison along with his buddies. Let's go." He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me forcefully.

"Go where?"

"Back to the prison. The truck over there is loaded with enemies like you, going back to the Arcadia prisons."

I resisted him by dragging my feet, but there was nothing to hold on to and he was strong. Julia told me about the horrors in the prison when she was awaiting her execution after getting caught with her boyfriend at sixteen. I would rather die than be imprisoned.

"Please don't kill my baby, I beg you. You can keep all the property." I blurted out whatever came to my mind.

"Property? What nonsense are you yapping?" He dragged me across the floor while I screamed, asking to have some mercy.

"Please, spare my child. You can keep the estate. I will convince everyone."

"Shut up, you bitch!" He slapped me, and I sobbed as loud as possible.

"Mister, what's going on? You are troubling a pregnant lady."

"I am following orders. She's a convict and needs to go back to Arcadia."

"He's making it up. He killed my husband and now wants to kill me to be the sole heir of the estate."

"I told you to stop with your bullshit." He turned to the man who stopped us. "Can you not see my uniform or the truck over there?"

"Doesn't matter who you are. This is Ivaris, and she's one of us. She's wearing a scarf that is passed on among families of our kingdom. And we protect our women."

The scarf was Noah's grandmother's. I couldn't find anything except that to cover my ears from the chilly wind when leaving. I repeated my sob story to attract more attention, and soon he was forced to let me go.

One of the men hit Andrew when he tried to stop me by pulling on my hair.

"You bitch!" He yelled as he got punched in the stomach.

"Die you asshole!"

I ran from there as more Arcadia men approached the crowd. There was no time to buy a ticket. I ran into the first train I saw and grabbed a window seat in an isolated carriage. It was a train on its way to Mountbatten. That's a long way away. I will decide where to get off when the dawn breaks. It wasn't safe off the train at this time of the night.

I pushed Ian's thoughts away as I looked out at the blurred trees and countryside. It was a starry night, and fireflies danced in a heady swarm with their tiny glimmers of light in the woods and over a lake.

My mind automatically took me back to the night Ian and I were sitting near the fountain and lotus pond that were visible from my room. It was the night before he was leaving me for two days. At around midnight, we sat there kissing and looking at the fireflies dance over the water.

Stop, stop, stop! No more Ian. How am I ever going to move past all these fond memories? While he is happy with that Caty, I will be moping and wailing every day with a child to feed on top of taking care of myself.

I wasn't even allowed to cry in peace as a couple occupied the seat opposite to mine and looked at me curiously. I stifled my sobs and tried to fall asleep to avoid unwanted conversations with strangers.

While pretending, I drifted off to sleep and saw the person I wanted to avoid at all costs. How can I avoid or forget this man when his touch feels so reassuring at all times? It was the morning he was leaving me, and he spent the night in my room. We stayed up all night sitting by the fountain, going to the gazebo, and making love in the bed, shower, and every corner of the room.

"I really don't want you to go..." I snuggled closer and kissed him on the shoulder.

"I'm really sorry for cutting our trip short." He squeezed me into a tighter hug. "You got me so used to sleeping next to you, cuddling and kissing. How am I going to sleep without you next to me?"

"Take me with you," I made a puppy face. He moved my hair away with both his hands and cupped my face.

"I promise to take you somewhere right after I return."

"Somewhere far away," I said, rubbing my nose against his.

"Okay. Somewhere where nobody knows our name."

His gaze fell on my lips, and within a second, his lips were pressed against mine.

"Why can't I ever get enough of your kisses?" He complained and lifted me to roll me over on my back.

My legs went around his hips instinctively. I trailed my hand over the curve of his neck and down to the waistband of his underwear, stroking his already erect cock. Desire spiked through me when he gasped against my mouth and slid his fingers between the folds of my pussy.

"Ian!" I moaned and bit down on his neck. Wanting to be on the top, I hooked my legs around him more firmly and rolled them over. Our hungry lips met once again in a very demanding kiss as I pressed my hands against his chest.

His hands stroked my waist and left a trail of heat behind everywhere they touched. His eyes conveyed such affection despite the lust in them. It warmed my heart, making me feel so precious and cared for.

He kneaded and teased at my breasts with his hands before his hot mouth sucked on them. My fingernails scratched down his chest as a soft hum escaped from me.

I moved my warm wetness against his pulsating member before sliding the head inside. He pushed halfway in, groaning and fisting my hair while I took in all of his throbbing length. It barely took three of his hard thrusts for my body to seize up, and I came hard.

He stayed deep inside me until I slammed my full weight onto him, riding him hard as he rose to meet me again and again with his thrusts. As his breath got more ragged, I felt another orgasm building.

"Ahhh, it feels so good," I told him as he kept pumping inside me.

"I'm there," he said, and I felt him pulsing and throbbing before releasing his seed.

I came again as he did, clenching tight around him and gasping for breath. We stayed still for a few moments and then he said reluctantly, "I have to go now."

I heard a clanking noise and felt someone nudging at me. My eyes shut when bright light hit my face the moment I opened them. The train wasn't moving. I turned to look at the man who woke me up.

"What is this place?" I asked him.

"Ivaris, last stop."

How? I was on this train all night and was expecting to be maybe a few stops away from Mountbatten.

"The borders are all closed, didn't you know?"

Andreas told me the east borders to Arcadia were closed because of the escaped convicts, and the south borders were closed because of the diseased Southland. But this train was going north.

"North borders are closed too?"

"If you had bought a ticket, you would have known. Borders to Sisadal have been closed last night to stop famine victims. We are overcrowded and His Majesty finally stopped showing mercy to other kingdoms when our own kingdom is suffering."

"Are there any trains going west then?" I got up and grabbed my stuff.

"There are only mountains and the wide-open sea on the west." He looked at me like I was crazy.

I am stuck in Ivaris, at the northernmost tip, with mountains and pastoral lands for miles and miles.

How the hell did I end up here?