But I saw it.
I saw the way heads turned and people noted her striking beauty, men adjusting the way they stood or eyeing her over as if wondering what she looked like naked. I saw it.
And it pissed me off.
Yeah, chicks were trouble, and apparently I was still dumb because I was here getting involved with one way out of my league.
“While everyone was arguing over the property known as me,” Aurora said with bitterness, “guards were collecting restitution for the damages against me since my value wouldn’t be the same when I was resold. The guards from the Reed coven didn’t know who to answer to and some had fled the day before in the chaos.
“It was all madness, and apparently my family had made friends with a powerful warlock in Spain, so that was how they got there so fast. They had to travel only to Spain and portal the rest of the way. I don’t know how they received word things were going south so fast, but… Probably the elder my father was in communication with told him I helped Ellie and Theresa flee.”
“Whoa, slow down,” I cut in. I realized now that she was done eating it was hard for her to talk and not stay busy. I glanced at the clock and wanted to curse because I didn’t have much time left. “Okay, so that was chaos, but you were brought home. What happened after?”
She served me more food and started cleaning up as she told me first that her uncle chewed her out the whole trip back and demanded she tell them where Ellie and Theresa were so he could “collect” them. He beat her over and over again and kept threatening to let the guards have her.
The only objection her parents had when they arrived was that the uncle hit her face and she needed to be resold. That was it and she said it so easily, sodetachedthat it killed me.
And I blinked back tears when she told me about trying to kill herself but failing. That her father was sitting there when she woke up and said if she ever tried that again he would sell her to a brothel because that was less shameful than a suicide against the gods. And that he knew she had experience as a whore, so she would make good money for the family at least.
“That was the last time I saw either of my parents,” she whispered as she finished what she was doing and moved on to serving us dessert. “They realized I would never give up Theresa and Ellie and we were at an impasse, at least for the moment. Maybe they thought they could break my spirit and I’d be desperate enough to be resold, but—living like I was dead was better.
“It was better than always on guard or the games of being a coven leader’s wife. All the whispers or comments, knowing I had to service elders or handle the deceit. The whims of Kenneth or comments that I was a broken mare who couldn’t even birth babies. Being bred and how much that hurt and I hated it. Always being thirsty for blood and always hungry for food was better.”
“Aurora, that wasn’t a way to live,” I rasped, standing and moving closer. Itching to hug her, I worried I could do damage given what she was talking about.
“No, but I could learn what I wanted. A cousin snuck me electronics and books. I’m good at math, and even if I never sawmy parents, Father allowed me to help with the castle’s finances and I was allowed certain extras like books. For a while, I was the governess of my nephews and taught them. That was a good time. It made me miss classes with Ellie.”
The grief she felt hit me hard and I realized she was grieving what she’d never gotten to have with Theresa. She’d given up the chance to really know her own child to protect her.
And I doubted Theresa ever appreciated it.
Probably not, and I wasn’t sure if I could blame them when they were so in the dark on a lot.
“I want to hug you, but I don’t want to make things worse for you,” I mumbled. “And I can’t stay much longer.”
“A hug sounds nice,” she accepted after a moment. “I’ve not had many of those.” She shot me a quick glance. “I’m sorry I selfishly took up all of our time together. We can see each other again, right?”
“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere, Aurora,” I answered, knowing it was the truth and better to just admit it. She was definitely someone who wasn’t used to being hugged, mostly just standing there awkwardly as I gave her just as awkward of a hug. Slowly she leaned in and sort of snuggled up to me.
Then she cleared her throat. “Did you want ice cream or whipped cream on top of your brownie? I have some caramel and other syrups I thought could be fun.”
I took the hint. “Brownies are my favorite and all of my teeth are sweet, so give me all of it.”
“Good to know.” She fixed me amassivebrownie loaded with everything and even too much for me. She was nervous as if all that sugar could somehow fix what she’d told me or maybe an apology for dumping it all on me? She didn’t need to.
“I’m proud of you,” I mumbled after a couple of bites. “I know how hard it is to talk about your past and mine—I thought mine was dark but yours—wow. And carrying that for centuries.I can’t even imagine. So maybe it’s not my place or I’m not the right person to say it, but I’m fucking proud of you.”
“Thanks, Creed. Really,” she whispered, clearing her throat. “The brownies are much better this time.”
“For sure. Really perfect,” I praised. “Not just softer and baked the right time, but you changed something. They’re softer and not dense. I like them.”
“I played with the recipe a bit,” she admitted quietly. She waited a few bites before giving me a gentle push. “Will you tell me your story now?”
I let out a long, slow breath. “I was an attorney for the mob—part of the mob, but their attorney. That was why I was stuck on the sins versus crimes thing. But they set me up to take the fall when they needed someone to get in trouble for a list of crimes. It was all a fucking setup from the beginning, from when they adopted me even.”
I hadn’t told this to many people, but it sounded kind of pathetic to whine about after Aurora’s true crazy fucking soap opera she was still living. But I was on the other side of mine—somewhat, so maybe I could help her focus on how things got better at least?
6
