Ludo’s eyes close and the pain that rolls off him is so thick I can almost taste it.
After a couple of beats, he once again starts to write.
“My memory is coming back. I think I was taken from my mother. Locked up in a cold building, near the pink lakes, with other children.”
I move my shoulder so it touches him lightly. He doesn’t flinch away, so I increase the pressure just slightly. Obviously I’d rather go in for a hug, but I’ll do this Ludo-style.
“The building was in a forest. Men would come, take one or two of us away at a time. Some would return. Some would not.”
His head drops for a moment, but then he straightens again and continues.
“They took me. I don’t remember what happened. But when I was returned,I was broken. I remember more of the after. I was given to different men. Men who bought me.”
Fucking hell. I reach out and place my hand on top of his.
He stiffens.
I say the only words that make sense. “We’ll kill them all.”
He pulls his hand away, but doesn’t shift his shoulder from mine.
“So, let’s go finish the tunnel. We're literally five minutes from the finish line. Then we can get starting planning the demise of every single fucker who hurt you.”
Ludo takes the pencil and writes.“I can’t.”
“Why not?” I’m genuinely confused. “Do you sense a ward or something?”
Shaking his head, Ludo starts writing again, the lead scratching angrily against the paper. When he passes the pad to me, my hound howls in dismay.
“I am tainted. What they did to me… what they made me. The Nymph deserves light, not the dirt they left in me.”
I look at the words, then back at his haunted eyes.
You got this, Larsen.
I push a grin onto my face. “First of all, rude,” I say. “You think Sparkles is the kind of girl who is put off by a bit of baggage? Holy Hellhounds, if that was the case, you think she’d be anywhere near Lexi?”
Ludo looks at me, eyes focused but unblinking.
“And secondly, rude again. But this time on Amirene’s behalf. Do you really believe a divine being would pierce you and Sparkles with Cupid’s arrow, if you weren’t the right person for her?”
Oneof the right people for her I amend in my head.
“We are her warriors, and warriors have scars. Some are visible, some are internal.” For a second I’m really glad Donovan isn’t here, because I’m pretty sure he’d start talking about the internal scars from his appendix operation, and miss the point entirely.
Do love him though.
Bully doesn’t look convinced. Ooh, I’ve just thought of my ace in the hole. “And if you pull away from Theo, you are going to break her heart.”
That gets him writing again.
“But…”
He chews the top of the pencil then continues.
“But I think I was used by the Conclave in their experiments. I don’t know what was done. I don’t know if I’m safe.”
That makes my eyes roll, hard. “Dude, Sparkles is literally filled with sparkles. She can sense dark shit a mile away. Don’t you think we’d all know by now if she found anything evil in you?”
