Nelle had followed me out onto the balcony. Reluctant to leave the safety of the light, she leaned her shoulder against the pillar-like edge of the wall. “It’s the one place your aunt couldn’t reach you,” she answered.
“Yeah.” As I rose, the thick roping of scars on my back stung in bitter memory.
“Did your dad know what was happening to you?”
My hair swept sideways as I shook my head. “No. He had no idea.”
“Mine either,” she whispered. We shared a brief look of understanding, of darkness and suffering, of fathers promising it would never happen again.
Except my father was unable to keep his promise.
And this tower hadn’t saved me from my aunt’s wrath years later.
A dull burn flared on both of my wrists beneath the silver chains and leather straps my younger brother had tied around them because he couldn’t bear to see the scars. Time and pain had been endless in the well of frigid darkness under the Keep.
Nelle was the one to break our locked gaze, flicking her line of sight toward the velvety night sky.
Shaking the memory off and shoving it down deep, I drew my shoulders back as I tucked my hands into my sweatpants’ pockets. I cleared my throat, focusing on the here and now and fonder memories. “Dad brought me here and let me choosewhether I wanted to live alone, or with the rest of the family in the Keep.”
Nelle peered into our room, sparkling with curiosity.
The tower had been empty for centuries. Dad helped clean it up and transform it into a self-sufficient home. He was the one who’d taught me how to cook the old family recipes from vó Bel. Cooking had been my grandmother’s passion, and the kitchen was Isobel’s sacred space. Spicy scents and herbs always filled the kitchen, along with her laughter and the tales from her side of the family, the Teixeiras.
“So you learned to cook and to take care of yourself, and to keep your domain inparticularorder.” Her cheeks rounded in a swift, shrewd grin.
I scowled as annoyance at her jab prickled beneath my skin. “I just like thingsright. It’s not weird, okay?”
Amusement brightened her eyes. “Not in the slightest.”
A heartbeat later, she rubbed her lips together, dousing the mirth. Her messy bun tipped to the side, casting sweet shadows across the planes of her face as she angled her head toward me. “You can ask me a question if you like.”
It seemed we were continuing to play the game I set in motion early today, a question for a question.
As she waited patiently, unease flitted over her features, and her fingers played anxiously with the messenger bag’s strap. I pondered, searching her face, wondering what to ask. Tension ran along her lithe body, and I could tell she was steeling herself for a question regarding Silas Boon, perhaps the wyrm or her family.
There were more serious questions I should be asking, but I couldn’t resist this one. “What’s your favorite childhood memory?”
Nelle’s grip on the bag strap went slack as she blinked rapidly, taken by surprise. Her brows nudged together, and she chewedon her plump bottom lip, thinking about it. “The day I saw the sea for the first time.” She smiled. A real smile, vibrant in its openness and perfectly crooked, like the smile she shared with me this morning up in my mother’s reading nook.
Her loveliness stole my breath.
Nelle turned her diminutive figure and leaned her back against the stone wall, her gaze captured by the dark horizon. The edges of the forest and rolling hills were a rough brushstroke, detailed only by the scattering of stars beyond. She glanced sidelong, still smiling. “I was five years old, and we’d all gone together. My parents, Lise, and Evvie. We traveled right across the States to the West Coast so I could see the Pacific Ocean with my very own eyes. I’d never seen the sea before. I’d only seen pictures of it, and I had no idea at all of how endless it appeared. It went on forever. It was all I could see. This majestic blue world with brine caught in the air. And the sand,” she breathed. “I never knew how soft sand could be. Every time a wave rolled out, the water sucked the tiny grains from beneath my toes and tickled the soles of my feet. It was the most incredible sensation.”
Nelle stared ahead where darkness gathered. Her smile faltered, and her voice grew quieter, melancholy shadowing her tone. “It was the last time we went anywhere as a family. The last time I left the estate for anything but dress fittings or the odd High Tea at the Monarch Tower and the rare appearance at a House Gathering.”
A cold feeling trickled down my spine. “Why?”
Sharpness haunted her gaze. “It was the first time fire showed itself.”
Nelle abruptly pushed off the wall, hurrying into our rooms, obviously done for the night.
A desolate wind whispered through me at what I was a part of. There was a vast world out there, waiting for her to spreadher wings and soar amidst its wonder. She had a little over two weeks to find a way to free herself.
A sudden rush of fear skated across my skin. I knew I would have felt her despair and terror trembling beneath my flesh. I knew Penn had lied to protect Nelle from my brothers. But I had to know for sure. I darted inside my quarters, my voice ringing out, and the question stopped her mid-step. “You’re not crying when you’re alone, are you?”
Nelle turned back slowly, her delicate features lined with confusion. “Crying?”
Fuck. I dragged my fingers through my hair, searching for the right way to ask. I anxiously motioned toward her with a hand. “Feeling hopeless and terrified of my family? Of my brothers?” Of what was going to happen later if she didn’t escape me.
