AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He was efficient at his job,” I reply tensely, disturbed by her emotions, unsettled by mine.
“I know he was just a butler to you,” Nala sniffles, “But to me he waseverything. Thank you for giving me to him.”
She stares at the casket, more tears falling, her grief palpable. For a moment I’m struck dumb by her ability to show her emotions, to not be afraid of them. I guess growing up with Renard as her grandfather was a far better experience than growing up with The Collector as a father.
“If Malik were alive he would have you flogged for crying,” I state.
“But he isn’t here anymore.Youare,” she replies, letting her tears fall shamelessly.
Grunting, I nod, and for the thousandth time today I have to force myself to remain distant. The need to fold my arms around Nala and hold her like I had when she was a baby is getting stronger the longer I’m in her presence. But worse than that is being so close to Nothing and knowing I want her more than I want to breathe. It’s fucking tearing me up inside.
Sheneedsto fucking die.
“Do you have anything you wish to say?” Konrad asks, breaking the silence.
“No. You?”
He shakes his head, looking at Leon. “What about you, brother?”
“No,” Leon says, swiping the back of his hand across his brow before dropping the shovel and glancing over at Nothing. Their eyes meet and she holds his gaze, something passing between them. Whatever it is, it’s no longer just hate, there’s more to it than that and it pisses me the fuck off.
“May I say something?” Thirteen asks. She’s barely said a word all afternoon, and hasn’t once made eye contact with me. Though I can’t say I’m surprised, she knows what I made Seven do to Three. I’m the villain here, at leastwe’rein agreement about that.
“Please,” Nala says, giving her a shaky smile.
“Make it quick. I have matters to discuss with One about the ball,” I snap, needing to get as far away from this field and these fuckers as possible, even if it is back to the woman who takes as much pleasure in hurting me as I do in getting hurt.
Nothing snorts, giving me a disgusted look. Despite that, my bastard dick twitches. If I thought I could get away with fucking her mouth here and now without my cock getting bit off, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’d have her kneeling in the damn dirt, my cock so far down her throat that her ghost eyes would brim with tears.
“When I was eight,” Thirteen begins, “My father brought me here to Ardelby Castle for the first time. Renard was the member of staff who was tasked with introducing me to you three whilst our fathers talked business,” she says, looking between us. “He took me to the parlour in the west wing, sat me down by the fire and gave me a cup of hot chocolate and an iced bun whilst we waited for you to join us. To pass the time he told me a story, afairytale, he’d said.” She pauses, smiling fondly at the memory.
“What was it about?” Nala asks, wrapping her arms around herself as she listens.
“He told me about this little boy, not much older than me at the time, who spent his days playing in an enchanted forest filled with fairies and pixies, unicorns and fauns. He said that the little boy had a big heart and a good soul, and that he was courageous and brave just like his mother once was…” Thirteen flicks her eyes to me briefly and my stomach ties into painful knots.
“Who was the boy’s mother?” Nala asks.
“A fair maiden who died at the hands of an evil warlock not long after the little boy was born.”
Nala frowns, looking at me and then back at Thirteen, catching on. “And the boy's father?”
“The warlock, of course.”
“What else did Grandfather tell you in this story?” Nala whispers.
“That the warlock knew from the moment his son was born that he held too much kindness in his heart and that the only way to get it out of him was to treat him with cruelty. The warlock even stole two other little boys from their families and made them his own, treating them with cruelty too, just in case his own flesh and blood disappointed him. He was determined to make all three of them hateful, evil creatures like he was.”
“Thirteen,” I warn, wanting her to stop. To shut the fuck up. It’s not as if we don’t know who she’s talking about. We all know how this story goes. There are no happy endings with this story.
But she shakes her head, pushing on. “Only he didn’t count on those boys loving each other more fiercely than they loved themselves no matter how hard he tried to drive a wedge between them with all the awful things he made them witness, that he made them do.”
“Enough!” I snap.
“Let her finish,” Leon says, giving me a warning look, his fingertips running over the handle of his gun tucked into the holster at his waist.
“One day the warlock’s birth son was playing in a field near the forest when he heard a startled cry,” Thirteen continues on. “He thought one of the creatures he adored so much was hurt and his kind heart couldn’t bear the thought. Without considering the consequences of his actions, he followed the cries and found a human baby tucked into the roots of a giant oak tree. She was cold and hungry and on the verge of death.”
“This is about us, isn’t it?” Nala whispers, reaching for my hand.
