“Osiris, listen,” Eleanor pleaded, but her voice seemed distant, as if it were under water.
“Who,” he growled, his wrathful flames basking his Symphony in an orange glow. “Who did this to you?”
Eleanor’s frightened gaze softened slightly as she lifted her hand to caress his neck, just below his head. He leaned into her warmth, treasuring her presence, burning it into his memory.
A presence someone tried to steal from him.
“Osiris, I am okay, you are misunderstanding-”
“Fucking hell,” a familiar, strained, and raspy voice sounded from behind him.
Osiris shot to his feet, keeping Eleanor behind him as his shadows created a wall, blocking her from anyone’s view but his.
As he turned to face her attacker, he saw Elias standing up next to a noticeable dent in his wall.?Elias rubbed his hand over the back of his neck as he stood up, holding his other hand up in surrender.
“You,” Osiris hissed.
“Fuck,” the vampire muttered under his breath, his eyes glowing red, “don’t do this, Osiris. You know I wouldn’t do something like this-”
“Osiris!” Eleanor yelled, stepping through his shadow wall as she ran out in front of him. Holding her hands up in front of her, she blocked his path to Elias.
“He didn’t do anything!”
“But your dress!”
“It was torn when I stepped on it as Elias was trying to help me up.”
Osiris looked behind Eleanor at Elias who was nodding along, his eyes returning to their normal red. Turning his head back to Eleanor, he leaned down to be eye level with her, his shadows lifting to run under her chin.
“Why was he inside in the first place, Eleanor?”
Elias cleared his throat but Osiris did not let his gaze falter from Eleanor. “I was coming by to speak with you but when I was about to knock, she opened the door.”
Osiris could have sworn his heart stopped beating all together. “Please wait for me outside, Elias.”
Elias didn’t answer but from the sound of fading footsteps and a door closing slowly, he obeyed.
She opened the door?
“You opened the door?”
“Osiris I-”
“I told you that beings roamed outside, I told you not to go outside and yet you opened the door? What if it was not Elias? What if it were someone else and they told the other beings?”
“Osiris!” Eleanor yelled, stopping his ramblings as a single tear ran down her cheek. “Please, I am sorry. But, I have listened to all of your rules. I know I should not have opened the door and for that I am sorry, but all I wanted was fresh air. Can I not even make that choice for myself?”
Osiris lifted his hand to wipe her cheek. “Eleanor that is not what I-” she swatted his hand away. She rejected his touch. She rejectedhim.
“I just…” she released a shaky breath. “I just want to have my own freedom. I have never been granted leave to act on my own! I have never dressed the way I wanted. I have never been able to get dirty while playing as a child, because how horrible would it be for my uncle if I was anything less than pristine! Damn it all, I have never evendancedbefore unless it was required by my uncle to help close some ridiculous deal.”
Osiris’ shoulders sagged as he pulled his hand back, his fire dimming enough that he thought the flames may have gone out altogether.
Eleanor’s cinnamon eyes were wet withunshedtears. Although she had been left alone all day, she should not have opened the door. Still, he could not fault her for doing so. After all, vines grow towards the sun, where they flourish. She will chase freedom even in small acts like opening the door.
Osiris sighed, clasping his hands in front of himself to squeeze them together. “Try and get some rest, Eleanor, I must speak with Elias and ensure he does not speak of your presence to anyone.”
Eleanor did not answer as he brushed past her, using all of his self-control to keep his shadows from touching her.
