AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Epilogue
Within the walls of the compound, she was safe from the outside world and the consequences that sprang from her past mistakes. She’d been wrong to leave, to seek out the child she’d said goodbye to so many years before. No, she told herself. It was better to go back home. Still, her heartbeat quickened, and a familiar weight settled on her shoulders as soon as she reached the woman’s dormitory.
It had been a mistake to leave, to see a child untainted by her world, to be faced with the ferocity and strength she’d lost a long time ago. Other memories emerged, memories she had pushed aside in an attempt to stay alive. Had it been worth it? Had she lost her mind, suggesting the child return to the compound, knowing what she knew?
The key to her room was clutched by fingers that shook at her side. Inside, she could forget. Inside, she would no longer exist.
“There you are.”
She desperately reached for the door handle, but a larger hand was quicker. His fingers dug into her wrist, the pale hairs on the back of his hand shining in the half-light.
He drew her into the shadows, pressing her back against the wall, his body pinning hers in place. “I thought I was going to have to look for you again.”
She trembled, words dying in her throat.
“Vira?” His voice sharpened. “Where were you?”
She swallowed hard, drawing her strength to meet his inquiring gaze. Some said they looked alike, but she hoped she had none of the cruelty in his pale blue eyes. He was taller, stronger, more powerful, and she was nothing next to him. He’d made sure she knew that much. “I had permission to take a trip,” she said meekly.
“You didn’t ask me for permission.” He searched her face; she had to be careful. “Where were you?”
“I went to the shrine in Morocco,” she said. “And then the south of France. I meditated.” All of that was true. But there had been so much more she couldn’t speak of.
He brushed her hair behind her ears, too gently. “You wouldn’t lie to me, little sister.”
She couldn’t breathe. “I could never lie to you. You’re too clever.”
He grinned, a weasel-like gesture. “You should be careful. People might think you had gone crazy again.”
She shuddered involuntarily. The word was a trigger to a past she didn’t want to think about. It drew her back to the sensory room, where she had suffered, died, then been born again as a loyal soldier, a harbinger who would never abandon her people. She had suffered all of that so her child could be free. She didn’t have the strength to do it twice. “I belong to the compound,” she said hastily. “I learned that through my meditation. The outside world is not for me.”
“Good.” He drew so close to her face that she held her breath. “As long as you remember that you belong to me, I’ll keep you safe.” His expression darkened. “And if you don’t, I’ll make sure the Elders know how crazy you’ve become.”
“Why do you hate me, Eli?” she blurted. The question had haunted her at night since childhood.
He flinched as though she’d struck him. “I love you. All of this, everything I do, is for you, for our family name. Don’t you see? Without me, they would prey on you. They would kill you if they knew the madness in your mind, the things you have done, the things you can do.”
You made me, she wanted to scream, but that would be foolish.
“I have protected you for your whole life. I’ll protect you until my last breath. Our name is worth something here, and I’ll make sure to keep it that way. Don’t worry.” He was gentle again, almost fatherly. “I won’t let the sickness in your mind take over. For your own good, I’ll keep you on the right track. This is where you belong. No more trips. No more worry.” He kissed her forehead, his lips cool against her skin. “I’m your big brother. I’ll always clean up your mistakes.”
He left her abruptly. Her heart raced against her chest. His last words filled her mind as she returned to her solitary room. The lights were out in the women’s quarter, but even in the darkness, she could see her room had been ransacked. She sat on the bed, a realisation striking her. He knew. He knew she had been to see the mistake she told him had been born and died on a bathroom floor. She lay back on the bed and imagined what would happen if she was right and he knew where she had been. If the werewolves failed to protect the girl. She imagined Margo in the sensory room, tortured until she said the words the elders wanted to hear.
For the first time in seventeen years, since the night her brother forced her to clean up the blood of her only lover, she cried.
