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“Yes,” I nodded, smiling faintly at the mention of Madame’s name.
I’d only really known her as Madame – her first name had never been brought up, though I knew her last name was Dugare. While this was a surprising turn of events, I was so pleased to see her there, I ran to her the next second, enveloping her in a tight hug which she returned gladly. Madame had never been one for physical contact, but this time she didn’t deny me, holding me close in her arms and whispering how glad she was to see me again in my ear.
Once I pulled back, I noticed there were tears in her eyes, and I saw her glancing at me and Thorn as if there was more to the story they weren’t telling me. It twisted my stomach into knots. What else was there to say?
“I… I feel like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle,” I went on. “Is there something I don’t know?”
Madame wouldn’t look at me, but Thorn did, his eyes blazing as he connected his gaze with mine.
“Indeed there is,” he said with a cool smile, turning back to face Madame. “Will you tell her or should I?”
My heart beat with uncertainty as I waited for either of them to fill me in. Madame still wouldn’t meet my eye but Thorn seemed adamant that she should be the one to tell me whatever it was they were hiding from me. Finally, he smirked and shook his head.
“Oh well,” he finally said. “I guess you’ve always left the difficult tasks to your younger brother, haven’t you Lili?”
My heart felt like it was about to burst in my chest, tightening and making it almost impossible to breathe.
“B-brother?” I managed to get out, glancing between them.
“That’s right,” Thorn went on nonchalantly as if what he’d just said hadn’t changed everything completely. “Lili’s my older sister.”
“Madame?” I whispered, staring at her for confirmation.
Yet still, she wouldn’t meet my eye. And it told me everything I needed to know.
I felt like I was going to collapse. The weight of this information felt nearly impossible to bear.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
Ever so slowly, it was hitting me, and the shock was being replaced by anger and pure rage that I hadn’t known this. That neither of them had told me when there had been so many opportunities. My eyes connected with Thorn’s and I glared at him, but he merely smirked in response.
“You know now,” he shrugged cruelly, and my hands formed fists at my side, my knuckles whitening and anger filling my whole body. “There was no reason for you to know earlier.”
“Did you know what happened to me all along?” I asked, my question now directed to Lili – Madame – demanding to see how much information she’d really had. “You knew he’d taken me… and you didn’t do anything about it!”
She stared right at me but didn’t say a word. It told me everything I needed to know.
“Did you tell her?” I asked Thorn instead. “Did she help you get everything in order?”
“She did indeed,” he replied as if he didn’t sense my anger and the betrayal that clung heavily between us. “Lili has always been there to help you, though. Since you were a little girl.”
“Help me?” I repeated. “You made her… you inserted her into my life so she could keep an eye on me, didn’t you?”
He merely smirked in response, and my body flared with anger so absolute I couldn’t keep up. I wanted to slap him. I wanted to kill him. He’d been orchestrating my life this whole time, and I hadn’t even been aware of it.
“How long have you been planning this?” I asked breathlessly, my attention on Thorn once again. “How long have you been planning to kidnap me, take me from everything I ever knew?”
“Since you were a little girl,” he replied coolly. “Since you still had your mother. Since I knew you belonged to me.”
I glanced at Madame, seeing her hang her head in shame. And I felt the anger coursing through me, making me feel so very betrayed.
“You’re a monster,” I told Thorn.
“You love a monster,” he reminded me, and suddenly the truth was too much to bear.
I spun on my heels and raced towards the door, but before I could make my way out of the room, Thorn blocked my path, standing in front of me and grinning me more cruelly than he ever had.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he told me, and I knew he was right.
No matter how angry I was, how fucking betrayed I felt, I was bound to him now, the invisible tethers holding me to him. I would never be able to run away from him again. I would return every single time, like a lost little lamb finding its way home. He knew it, too. Knew I belonged to him, knew there was no way I would run from him again. And as I looked up into his eyes and saw his triumphant smile, I knew he’d realized it too. I was his for better or for worse, the ownership so complete I backed away from the door and walked sheepishly back into the room, unable to meet his gaze again.
