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“He’s going to have a little sleep.”
Dax narrowed his gaze before understanding what I meant. I strolled up to my older brother, pulled back my right fist and punched his face into the wall. Ossian’s eyelids dropped as he fell unconscious.
“And what about you?” Dax asked as I walked past him to the door.
“I’ve got a wedding to go to.”
I turned and caught the shock on his face. “Coming?”
Vivian
I was still staring out of the window but seeing nothing as Minty pulled the car up and switched off the engine. For the first time since we left the abbey, I took notice of where I was. Minty had parked outside a block of flats in the heart of the main town’s municipal housing estate.
“Where are we?” I swallowed hard. My voice didn’t sound like mine. It sounded flat, lifeless, devoid of soul.
“Home sweet home,” Minty replied, her tone laced with apology.
I didn’t have the strength to reassure her it didn’t matter to me where she lived. Instead, my head panned back to the windscreen and I continued to stare out of it, blankly.
Even when I felt Minty’s soft, warm hand curl around mine, nothing came. “Let’s get you inside,” she said, squeezing my fingers before getting out of the car.
She came around to the passenger side and helped me out. Keeping a hand on my elbow, she guided me through the main door and up two flights of concrete stairs, until we reached a plain navy blue door with a brass number seven tacked to it.
“Excuse the mess,” she said, turning the key. “I wasn’t expecting company.”
I followed her inside and looked around hoping to feel something. Anything.
I didn’t feel a thing.
“Here,” Minty moved a pile of laundry from a well-worn but soft-looking sofa. “Sit down. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll brew some tea.”
As Minty scurried away, I lowered myself slowly onto the sofa, pulling a blanket across my knees. I needed to cover myself. If I couldn’t see the bottom half of my body, maybe no one would else notice it either.
I sat rigid and waited until Minty came back into the room carrying two mugs of tea and a plate of biscuits. She placed them quietly onto a table then straightened, her eyes roaming the whole of me as if looking for breaks. Little did she know, all she had to do was peel away my skin. I was so broken inside, without skin holding me together I would crumble to the floor.
Slowly, she approached me, knelt down by my knees and lifted my hands into hers.
“What happened Vivian?” she whispered, worry lines crossing her brow.
I shook my head. I couldn’t say the words aloud. That would make it real, and I would forever feel impaled by the shame. Minty reached out a thumb and wiped my cheek. I’d battened down so many hatches, I couldn’t even feel the tears spilling down my face.
“You were in the crypt, waiting for Rupert, right?” she said, looking up at me.
I nodded.
“But Ossian found you?”
I blinked, releasing more tears, then looked away.
“Vivian,” Minty said, looking down at our entwined fingers. She took a steadying breath. “Did he rape you?”
I dragged one of my hands up to my mouth and squeezed my eyes closed. I shook my head and heard a sigh of relief rush out of her.
“Okay,” she said. “Okay. So… what did he do?”
I hiccupped into my palm and felt more tears stream down over the back of my hand. I took the tissue Minty offered and dried my face the best I could while I caught my breath.
“He…” My voice was still alien to me so I cleared my throat and started again. “He, um… He pretended he was Rupert. I… I thought he was Rupert.” I squeezed my eyes closed again. How could I have been so stupid? I knew every inch of Rupert. I knew his skin; I knew his damn shadow. I could have spotted him miles away. How had I got it so tragically wrong?
