Page 873 of Coal Hearts

Chapter Thirty-Four

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Henri

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“THIS REMINDS ME OF OUR walks on the island,” Ily murmured.

I glanced at her beside me. Bundled up in a thick black jacket that dropped to her calves, a pom-pom hat and homemade red scarf that my brother’s elderly cook, Mrs Sucre, had knitted, I tripped as a punch of undiluted happiness stole my air.

Fuck.

If I didn’t have the ache in my thigh from being shot, the tightness in my back from being whipped, and the scabs from a dog attack on my arm, I might believe I’d died after all.

For the first week after I’d woken, I struggled to sleep thanks to the fear that I’d been sent to some sort of teasing purgatory. A place that delivered all your heart’s desires only to rip them away because you weren’t worthy of them.

Those fears had faded the stronger I’d become. My bitten arm grew itchy as it healed, my other arm slowly stopped aching, and my leg no longer buckled when I’d slipped from the blankets and joined Ily on the chairs by the window.

We’d barricaded ourselves inside that room. We were selfish in our need for privacy. We spent our time reading, eating, or playing cards, both of us pausing every now and again to just stare at each other.

Stare and smile and shake our heads in disbelief that this was real.

We were truly here.

Together.

We had no pain to endure. No games to play. No threats to survive.

It’d taken a long time for us not to jump when the door opened.

We went from tolerating my brother’s company to actually enjoying the dinners when we joined them as a family. The first night I’d been cleared by the doctors and given a walking stick to get around, the dinner had been stilted and awkward. Just the four of us: his wife and my twin flame.

The dynamics took a while to smooth out, especially after a lifetime of having no one. I’d gone from being alone to having a woman who loved me (somehow) and a brother who actually cared.

The only thing that would’ve made those dinners any better would’ve been Peter.

He’d been the first friend I’d ever had, despite our rocky beginning.

He’d taught me how to accept a bond from another man after only having my father’s hate as an example.

Slowly, the dinners turned into all-evening affairs. While Tess and Ily grew to know one another, Q took me to the library to learn how to be siblings.

Turned out, I would’ve definitely died in that villa in Tuscany if he hadn’t gotten there first.

Fifteen men had been waiting for me.

All armed and ready.

Q and his mercenaries had taken them by surprise, mowing them down without blinking. I still didn’t know what he’d done with the bodies, but...I didn’t care.

At least they couldn’t harm anyone else.

And...I’d somehow survived.

Q had cleaned up after me. No one had named me to local police.

I’d gotten away with mass murder and carried those stolen lives with pride.