Page 100 of The Light Within

Cinn allowed a silence to settle over them, waiting for Julien to be ready to lead the conversation.

“I…” Julien started, eyes high, fixated on the grey sky. “I can’t believe it was him. My father. It must have been him who sent the gendarmerie to arrestMèrethat day.”

Something in the way he said the words, laden with resignation, implied Julien had always known this truth, deep down.

“Thatbastard!”

Julien had never sounded quite like this, this raw, guttural eruption of pain and disbelief. The anguish in his voice was so palpable it felt like a physical force, a storm of rage and sorrow.

“I’ll kill him.” Julien’s quiet conviction was alarming, especially when he stepped forward from the wall, as if he were off to do just that.

Cinn threw his palms out. “Hey now—”

Instead of pushing Cinn out of the way, Julien spun, face twisted with fury, and slammed his fist into the brick wall with so much momentum, Cinn’s teeth ground together in sympathy for his knuckles.

“I’m going to fucking kill him!” Julien screamed, and made to punch the brick again.

Cinn caught his elbow, wrenching it backwards. “Jul—”

“Howdarehe? How fucking dare he sit there across from me all these years, knowing the whole time?”

“I don’t know.” Cinn tugged Julien away from the wall, trying to grab both his arms, but Julien broke out of his grip to pace up and down.

“How was I this stupid?” Julien shook his head at himself, genuine confusion written across his face. “Putain, how I’ve been sostupid!”

Cinn had been expecting this moment, of course. Julien had been on a collision course for some sort of breakdown since the moment Cinn had met him. But now, wading through the thick of it with him, the depth of Julien’s self-critical despair was almost too much to bear, leaving Cinn to drown in a tide of helplessness.

“And—” Julien stopped pacing. “Of course. Yesterday. That was him, as well. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”

“The break in?” Cinn rubbed his tired eyes. It already felt like a lifetime ago since those men dragged him out of bed in the early hours of that morning. “You think your dad sent those men?”

Cinn didn’t mean for the words to sound so doubtful; he was simply processing it all.

However, Julien’s face crumpled in disdain. “But of course it was! It makes complete sense. Remember just before Christmas, when he asked me about you ‘helping’ him? Well, obviously, he didn’t want to take no for an answer. Trust me. Iknowit was him. Why don’t you trust me?”

Julien glared at Cinn, daring him to challenge him.

Cinn raised two palms in surrender. “Okay, okay! Just chill out for a second,I’m—”

“Chill out?” Julien shrieked.

—on your side, here.

Inwardly, Cinn groaned. He should have led with that.

“Chill out?! How can I possibly chill out when I’ve just found out that it was my father who sent those men to arrestMère, resulting in me killing her? And that she came here to tell Father Gérard about some sort of…” Julien waved his arm wildly in the air. “Some sort of secret destructive device that’s causing the umbraphages and this second wave of calamities.”

Again, Cinn attempted to catch hold of Julien, and again, he writhed away, a feral animal in distress.

“And then last night, he fucking sent people to our hotel to snatch you!” At that, Julien finally looked at Cinn, deep wells of horror replacing his eyes. “I almost lost you!” A deep breath. “I almost lost you tohim! So I’m going to kill him. I’ll do it, I swear. Fuck him. And fuck Eleanor for supporting him. I thought I could count on her, of all people. Why was I so trusting?”

Julien’s tirade was becoming more rapid, more deranged by the second. Before Cinn could formulate a plan of action, Julien twisted away from him.

Wham.

His fist connected with the unforgiving stone wall again, Cinn’s heart absorbing the blow.

Wham.

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