“Charlotte.” My father rushed in along with four members. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m alright.” His eyes raked over me in Sebastian’s arms as proof that I certainly was not alright. “I will be. But I need to get to Olivia.”
He glanced behind us at Edward slumped against the wall. “Newborn?” he asked Sebastian. Yes, of course. Because that’s what mattered right now. Gods forbid we were fooled.If you only knew who was really standing before you.
Sebastian nodded once, and the relief was evident on Father’s face. “Go to your sister. We’ll take care of this.”
The curtains were closed in her room as if she already couldn't stand the light. She laid on her side in bed staring blankly at the wall. Mother sat beside her petting her shoulder like a cat. Her icy, blue eyes met mine, and she glared at me as if this was my fault. Though I really couldn’t blame her this time. It was. And I didn’t know how I was going to live with that.
“She doesn’t want to see any members right now, certainly not the one who killed her fiancé,” she said coldly.
I nearly had to do a double take when I looked up to him. He wasglaringat my mother. Though it was in his own way, with eyes devoid of feeling except an eagerness to eat you alive. She didn’t seem to notice though because her disdainful eyes were firmly set on me. I tapped his shoulder lightly, and he reluctantly looked down to me, as if glaring at her was inflicting some sort of damage and he wasn’t done yet.
“It’s okay, Sebastian. You can let me down now. I’ll find you in a moment.”
He seemed like he was about to protest, but after giving one last look to my mother, he set me down gently, his hand at my lower back assessing my stability.
I nodded to him once in reassurance, though every muscle was stiff and achy, and the sharp pain in my ribs melded with the dull ache in my back. The door clicked softly as Sebastian left, and Pari stood at the end of the bed with warm eyes and a scrunched brow as she looked over Olivia.
I wrapped my arm around my middle, an attempt to hold myself together, both literally and figuratively. I tried to hide the wince as I knelt down in front of her so she had to look at me, though she only looked through me. Her glassy eyes like a placid lake with endless depths of sorrow.
And as I attempted to wade through what would surely swallow me up too, waters so cold it froze my very marrow, I thought of how this happened. Alaric. He had tied himself to me through the spell so that he could find me wherever I was. He knew I went through the portal, after he specifically threatened me not to. And this was some sort of sick punishment. But Olivia paid the price.
And that would be a scar burned into my soul for eternity.
He was hurting my family now. And he would only retaliate further the closer we got to eliminating him.
They say things only get worse before they get better. And I had a feeling things were about to get catastrophic.
I brushed her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Even her hair of woven gold grew more lackluster by the second. There was nothing I could say to relieve her pain in this moment. But I stayed with her until my legs went numb from kneeling, and Pari placed a hand on my shoulder.
“We should really get you to the doctor,” Pari said softly.
I hadn’t realized my breath was coming out in short bursts. I was so enveloped within Olivia’s pain, I couldn’t feel my own, until it all came barreling back to me.
“I love you so much, Olivia. I’ll be back soon,” I whispered.
I clutched Pari’s arm as she helped me up from the ground. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she held me upright. We headed to the door without a single glance to my mother, who was no doubt scowling the entire time I was there. I refused to meet her cold eyes again. I couldn’t bear it.
As Pari opened the door, I saw Sebastian sitting on the windowsill just outside, slumped over, his elbows resting on his knees with his head hung low. He shot up, coming to my side.
“Have you been out here the whole time?” I asked. It had been an hour at least.
“For the most part, after meeting with your father.”
I nodded. A warmth unfurling within me.
Pari passed me off to him. I bit down as he picked me up, my injuries protesting with every movement. He carried me down the hall in his arms.
* * *
Turned out that I had sprained a rib, probably when Edward slammed me against the wall. Bruises bloomed about my back like an abstract painting. The medication helped to dull the pain, but itmade me woozy. I was given strict orders to stay in bed, but after the sun was long asleep and the manor dimmed to a faint candlelight, I snuck out to Olivia’s room.
She was staring blankly at the ceiling flat on her back when I entered, and I silently slipped beneath the covers. I tried to stay awake as long as I could, though the medication won.
A wave of relief washed through me as I woke to see her sleeping heavily curled up next to me. The room was bathed in blue dark, dawn still deep in its slumber. But something had pulled me from my sleep.
I winced at the pain from the jolt that ran through me when I met his eyes. He stood in the shadowed corner like a ghoul. The audacity he had to show himself in my sister’s room, even though I knew he could conceal himself from her with illusions, but that did not quell the rage that simmered within me, threatening to boil over.
