The words stung, like the icy heat of a bitter cold day, tears burning at the corners of her eyes. He softened when he saw her expression, like perhaps he regretted saying it, but the damage had already been done.
“I didn’t say I was different,” she said quietly. “I know I’ll end up in le Voile, eventually.”
Now his eyes widened, shock writ clear on his sharp face.
“Who saidthatwould happen?” he demanded.
Isabelle paused, unsure whether to answer truthfully.
“Rul told me that you let yourplaythingsgo home when you tire of them, but I don’t believe that for a second. Where else would you send them?”
The idea had been churning in her head since Rul had mentioned the others, and it was the only logical answer. Le Voile needed to be fed, didn’t it? And who better than the pathetic humans who had agreed to come here.
Without warning, Bellinor gripped her thigh, stilling her trembling leg. Her breath caught in her throat, and she swallowed hard, trying to control the pressure building within her, the touch electrifying her to awareness.
“Le Voile will not be claiming you,” he said, his voice a low growl.
“What if I want to go? What if my father’s there?”
The revelation of the black void had stoked the horrible thought, the tears spilling as she finally spoke it aloud, as if doing so would make it true.
“What?”
“He killed himself,” she explained between heaving breaths, the words tumbling out freely now that the dam of silence had been broken. “It’s a sin. My father died because of me, because I took away the one thing he loved most in this world.”
Bellinor shook his head somberly, lips pursed into a frown.
“That’s not how it works.”
“How doyouknow?” she snapped.
She tried to scoot away, but he gripped her thigh, refusing to let her go.
“I survived le Voile. Your father is not here.”
Isabelle sniffled hard as Bellinor rose to his feet, squeezing himself in between her legs and pulling her into a crushing hug. Surprise jolted through her, and it took her a few moments to lay her head on his shoulder, slink her arms around his waist. Even if he was lying, the words brought her comfort, as did the warmth of his embrace.
“I do not know what your moon mother has claimed, but that is not what this place is.”
She slid her palms up his chest, tears still dotting her vision.
“What do you mean?”
“This place is not the abode of the dead. People who pass earthbound do not end up here.”
“Then where do they go?”
Her voice was hoarse, her body trembling in his grasp. Was he toying with her? Mocking her? It didn’t appear so, not with his somber tone and serious face, without a hint of mischief.
“That, I do not know. But they do not come here.”
“When I looked at le Voile, I saw…” she paused, trying to catch her breath, still her racing heart. “It was a skull decaying in the forest. Covered in ivy and moss, like it had been there a long while. But it was more than that. It was… pure nothingness. A void. Eternal nonbeing. It was… my father, my mother. It wasme.”
She knew she wasn’t making sense, but Bellinor just nodded along.
“Le Voile likes to show us the things that we fear the most. It is excess in all ways. Lust, fear, torment, euphoria. But is that the worst thing? To die and become nothing?”
He rubbed circles into her back, but she wouldn’t let herself be soothed so easily.
