AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I clear my throat, looking away as I rake my fingers down my jaw.
“What’s the job?”
Cillian nods past me. I turn, looking curiously to where two girls are sitting on a park bench. The older of the two, a redhead who looks about middle-school age, is laid back across the bench, blowing ginger bangs out of her face as she swings her arms in a bored, restless fashion.
In contrast, the younger blonde one sits primly, shoulders back as she reads a battered copy of Dostoyevsky’sThe Brothers Karamazov. Which is amusing, considering she looks all of ten or eleven.
“Do you know who those two are?”
I nod as I swivel my gaze back to Cillian.
“Your nieces; Declan’s daughters.”
“Indeed.” Cillian’s green eyes sink into me. “And I’d like you to be their bodyguard.”
I blink, stunned confusion settling into my head.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me.”
I shake my head. “No.”
Cillian smirks. “That was a fast answer.”
“All due respect, Mr. Kildare, but you don’t want me in charge of them. Or anyone.”
“I said what I said.”
“Well then you really don’t know my history.”
“I know you killed your own father for killing your little sister.”
I flinch, my molars grinding as our eyes lock. Anger flashes behind my face, but Cillian just holds my gaze with an unblinking, unrepentant, almost freakishly calm look.
“I know why you did it, too.”
My eyes narrow. “You don’t know a goddamn thing about—”
“Because I did the same fucking thing, Castle. To my own father, for my own sister.”
We stare at each other in silence for a moment, a strange sort of unspoken understanding flickering between us.
“You called me Castle,” I growl quietly.
“It’s your name, isn’t it.” He shrugs. “You were Christoper before. But we both know what you’ve gone through has changed you. Now, you’re Castle. Right?”
I nod, swallowing.
“Then it’s Castle. So, tell me, Castle.” Cillian takes a step towards me, his slightly off-putting, supernaturally piercing green eyes stabbing right into my very soul.
“Do you want a job?”
* * *
Present:
Peace isa weird sensation when you’ve been at war for longer than you can remember.
