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Chapter22
Milo
Today was Randsin’s day to roam the castle as he pleased. He’d finally spoken up, sick of hiding from me while I got to walk around like a free man. So to appease King Windre, and keep from completely being taken by surprise by the pain of my blood oath if I were to accidentally run into him, they’d chained me inside of my room.
My arm rested above me, leaning against the bed and propped inside of the large metal cuff. My legs were crossed in front of me, a novel I paid little attention to sitting in my lap. I couldn’t sit on the fluffy top of the bed staring out the window at everyone who got to be outside, doing as they pleased, any longer.
From the corner of the room, my door cracked open. Full of hope, I stood, sending the book into a heap on the floor and scratching the metal post with the cuffs with an annoying grinding noise.
“Milo?” Red’s nervous voice called.
“Red?” I hissed. The last time I’d seen her she’d hit me, then run away. The memory of her stinging slap came to mind, making my cheeks burn all over again.
At the sound of my voice, she slipped inside the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned into it, holding the knob still. Her hair was twisted up on top of her head, making the point of her ears look sharper. The gray of her eyes looked more blue today, reflecting off the baby blue tank top she wore. Her shirt exposed the entirety of the fingerlike ash marks on her body.
I swallowed as I took in the sight of her, knowing how frustratingly strong my attraction to her was growing. She stared back, looking hard at my chained wrist.
“Not so fun, is it?” She frowned.
Slumping back into the nightstand, I rolled my eyes. She’d come here to poke fun at me. “If you’ve come to harass me with your petty remarks and snake-like tongue, then you might as well leave. I’m not much in the mood for banter today.” Because nothing was going as I planned. I hadn’t the heart to get that token from Randsin to buy back my freedom, not when Red held it so tightly in her hands.
“No, I’m coming to get something off my chest.” Red straightened her shoulders, looking down at her hand on the knob. One by one she lifted her fingers then stared down at her hand as if it wasn’t listening to her commands.
This was it. Red was going to finally let it all out and scream at me for all those hideous things I’d done. Honestly, I thought that even after all the fighting and mean mugs she sent my way that there was more there she wanted to release. She could probably kick the shit out of me and I’d let her.
I pointed to my shackled wrist. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good, that’s good.” She walked forward, her hands gripping the nearest chair. I eyed her white knuckles.
“Is something wrong?” My brows furrowed.
“No.” she let it go, walking forward until she reached the bed. Cautiously, she touched the blanket before sitting down. “I just—why did you kiss me the other day?”
“Ah, dreets, Red. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it.” I groaned, smacking my head on the corner of the nightstand. A dull ache radiated from the impact.
“You’re right, butwhydid you do it?”
Everything clenched inside of me. My arm pulled at the chain, trying to follow the other one as I wrapped it around my torso. I swallowed, feeling the scratchiness of my dry throat. I opened my mouth to speak but found no words, only worries and concerns.
“I shouldn’t have done it, and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or brought back bad memories. I didn’t mean for it to happen so forcefully.”
“Why did you do it?” she said loudly.
“Because, Red, because I like you. I don’t want to like you, I want to want to strangle you because everything you say is fucking infuriating, but for some fucked up reason, I care about you.” A long, uncertain breath left me as I finished.
Red looked down at her hands, her thumbs bumping and spinning around each other. Silence stretched out. Sweat began to bead at my temples, my teeth raking over my lip repeatedly.
“I’m sorr—” I began.
“I don’t love you,” Red snapped.
“I don’t expect you to.” I leaned forward, pulling my knees under me so I could sit up and see Red better.
“You hurt me, Milo. Physically, emotionally, and mentally I’m different, and part of it is because of you.”
My heart contracted, my chest strangled by her hold on me. I blinked and suddenly she had blonde curls and Eydis’ soft features.‘Milo, I can never love you like you love me. I’ve tried, but my heart just isn’t there. Something’s coming my way, I just know it,’Eydis had said the day she broke my heart.
This was a repeat of that. This was the reason I never wanted to love again. Because no matter how I fought it, I always loved and no matter how they tried, they never loved me back.
