“Yes, and no. The bond of a groom to his wife is something Helene couldn’t risk. Not jealousy or having her most devout child swayed from her control. She was already interested in you. She saw to it Ruby only ever knew you as the happyDelilah who was in love. Scarlet was never an option, due to her traveling overseas to have a tubal ligation, so you were the only child left in your family.”
That’s why my mother gave Asher a chart of where he was allowed to hit me, and she would pick out my clothes to make sure the bruises were never seen. Because the alternative was my sister, who couldn’t live in that house without them pimping her out, would have imploded their business agreement. My sister, who was a child, agreed to marry a grown man to save me.
“Why me?” I whisper through my tears.
“Why not you?” he asks simply. “Ruby’s knowledge took away the entertainment of breaking her. Asher regularly boasted about your fight to be with Kane. All stories throughout history are a battle of the heart and body. Why would she choose anyone else when you exist within the same fight?”
“I didn’t do anything.” I wipe the tears off my cheeks.
“No one ever does. Are you aware some believe God and the Devil to be siblings? This universe, the belief of right and wrong, everything you know solely exists due to a sibling rivalry by those who were naturally given more power than you. So again, why not you, when you emulate that very struggle?”
“Would Kane have been left alone?”
He slowly shakes his head, taking a deep breath. “The way he was raised made him see family as something to yearn for. Asher had no intention of leaving his life. He wanted to be both of them, so he wouldn’t have allowed his name to die. It was always going to be Kane trapped in this world while Asher lived the best of both. He would have acted on his desires here while accepting the praise in the other. Don’t believe Helene. She was too in awe of what she created in Asher to accept he had higher aspirations than what she would allow.”
Why the fuck is everything a lie? There’s one morsel of truth buried under a ton of carefully crafted lies like a maze with thesmallest gap to escape, but I only end up in another maze with more deceptive groves.
“Do you see now, little doe? You took the only route you had to save yourself.”
“Save me?” I scoff. “I was locked up for years. So was Kane. Who knows what they did to him. None of this is the better option than Asher living. I would have lived with Asher beating me—I did live with it—to keep Kane safe. If you think I hold any joy about his death right now, you’re wrong. It’s not possible anymore because all his taunts, his manipulation, the way he’d beat me while telling me he’s keeping me safe were the better option.”
For Kane.
Lennox stands to his full height, taking his phone out of his pocket, then turns it so I can see the screen. Or screens, because it flickers with multiple rectangles, each showing a different room with a new sickening act the Devil would find repulsive.
I close my eyes, turning my head, but it’s burned into my mind and I can’t remove the image of the person strapped to an elevated bed on their stomach being mounted by a dog. Strings of thick saliva dripping on to their back, their body shaking in the restraints keeping them in place.
“Curiosities,” Lennox says. “Those are Rowan’s, enacted for his entertainment. Asher wanted to see howhisbody would react and he planned to force Kane to play out every one of his curiosities.” My face is tipped up as he softly says, “Open your eyes, little doe. See you are responsible for something great. You defeated one head—you have three left.”
My eyes burn as soon as they open to him squatting in front of me like I’m not some dumb, weak, silly girl.
“Bide your time,” he says, “like you did with Asher. Trust your instincts to know when the time is right. Don’t allow her to control this again.” He taps my temple. “You succeeded as a girlwhen you didn’t know all of this existed. Knowledge is power. Use it to save each other.”
I nod even though it’s weak and unconvincing. But he doesn’t say anything else as he gently holds my elbow, guiding me up. Rather than force me to move, he allows me to lean my head on his bicep and watch the water while my tears fall.
31
KANE
Our mealtimes are kept separate from the others as we sit in the empty hall with our trays of food. “This is the best one,” Kid hums, biting into his bread roll then turning it so I can see the little dots inside it as he kicks his feet. “Look, it has crunchy stuff inside.”
“Seeds,” I tell him as I put my roll on his tray.
His eyes are huge and so deep brown, they shine as he shyly says, “You gave me a present.”
“I’ll get you a better one in the future.”
His smile gets wider, a small dimple denting below his lips, which I nearly miss when he lowers his head, smiling at the piece of bread in his little fingers. It’s already late since we spent all day locked in the room, so he’ll be tired soon. I gently tap the table to get his attention. “Eat all your food, Kid. Then you can have a shower and go to bed.”
The kicking is slower this time, but he keeps looking up at me between bites like I’m a superhero. I can’t wait to see who he becomes once we’re out of here. My mind drifts to the perfect bedroom for him. It has to have huge windows, a private bathroom with a lock on the door, maybe. A skylight so he neverfeels closed in. I’ll need to make him a games corner too rather than playing charades all the time. Charades can become our family game night activity before we watch movies. They can’t be horror though or the kids will get scared.
Bread won’t be a present. I’ll get him whatever he wants. His clothes will fit him instead of him wearing mine.
Once we finish eating, I stand and pull his chair back so he can get down. Without thinking, he grabs my hand as we walk back to our room. He keeps his head down the entire way but once we’re inside he jumps up on the bed. “Kane?”
“Yeah?” I toe my boots off before grabbing a spare hoodie from my bag so he’s not cold. I hold it out for him to push his head through then carefully pull his arms through the sleeves that are way too long for him.
He plays with the strings as he whispers, “Are you my friend?”
