moments we had in the woods. When he would tend to the horses, or we’d sneak off to a flower field. These were the
moments my young child mind adored the most.
We’d kept our friendship a secret for nearly six years. As I reached the age of fourteen, we stuck to the woods as I
wasn’t allowed to be around young males, other than my brother or my tutors.
Dorian’s face flashed in my mind as he held himself above me. His breath stank of wine, ale, and salted meats. He kept
one hand over my mouth as I tried so desperately to scream and kick until a dagger pressed against my neck.
I was twelve.
Nicholas danced with me in a waltz, our feet getting soaked by the small waves of the waterfall lake. The place we would
meet when I wanted somewhere to escape. He kept the dark thoughts at bay, promising me he would take me away from
here as soon as he could. Promising me, he’d save me.
Rushing through the forest as heavy rain pelted my body. My dress became soaked through. I called out to him, as he ran
ahead of me laughing and taunting me, reminding me of how slow I was and how much faster and far greater he was.
Laughter and joy filled my lungs when I eventually collided with him, knocking him to the ground. My body pressed against
his as the rain continued to fall. At that moment, all I wanted was for him to kiss me, to close the space between us.
To me, our friendship had become something more, but when he pushed up, removing me from him, he looked awkward
and visibly upset. He refused to tell me what was wrong or what I had done.
Weeks went by when he did not visit and my heart broke more with each passing day. I would wander the woods alone,
even during the colder months. I missed his company. Then finally, one day, he found me sitting at the water’s edge.
He told me he was being called away. That his father needed him back home and he could no longer work at the stables.
There he kissed me for the first, and I believed the only time. When I opened my eyes, I sat on the rocks by myself
wondering how I’d even got there.
Chapter 29
ORNELLA
As he broke the kiss, my mind flooded with every single memory. I heaved over in a cry—a cry filled with heartbreak and
abandonment.
He’d taken every single memory that involved him, including the one from the very first night my uncle hurt me and
where I begged him not to go after him. I had truly believed that was the only memory he’d taken.
Except, he removed every joy, every smile, every laugh, and every tear from my mind with him. I couldn’t look at him as I
sobbed, my entire body shaking with each bone deep and painful sob.
“You took them,” I muttered between sobs, “All this time, I felt so alone, so strange in this world—as if some pieces of me
