Page 42 of Traithorn

“We’re back together, that’s all that matters,” I whisper against her swollen lips.

Isolde’s chest still rises and falls in uneven bursts, but her gaze is slowly turning distant. Unfocused. I stroke her cheek, but she doesn’t even unconsciously lean into it like she used to. Something is wrong.

Celine seems to notice the change in the atmosphere, too, as she crouches down beside us.

Her hand lands on Isolde’s thigh, but Isolde flinches away, crawling as far away as she can with the ribbons still tied around her.

“I can’t stay like this,” Isolde finally whispers, her voice raw.Exhausted.

My eyebrows furrow, heart sinking. “What?”

Isolde sits up slowly, the flames flickering around her and casting a fiery glow on her damp skin.

“What do you mean, baby?” Celine prompts.

“I can’tbewith you. Not after everything you’ve done. Do you have any idea of how terrified I’ve been the past three years? And now, with you back, killing even more. I can’t be with a murderer. Irefuseto.”

“Is this some post-climax guilt talking?” Celine asks, yet concern laces her words. She reaches behind her to grab a blanket, offering it to Isolde.

Isolde grabs it, wrapping herself in it as if it could physically shield her from us.

My heart plummets to the fucking floor at the devastated look on her face. A tortured soul. “But we killed them all for your sake.”

“No,” she says, finally meeting my eyes. “You killed them foryoursake. For your own twisted obsession with me. You killed Casper to prove a point. To make me yours. I can’t stand you. You need to let me go.”

“We can’t do that,” Celine says, but it sounds as if she’s on the verge of crying.

My strong, cunning sister who has never shed a single tear in her entire life.

“I could never forgive you for everything you have done. I could never love you the way you think you love me. I need you to let me go.”

There’s so much conviction in her voice. She’s completely serious.

Emotions rage a war inside me, winding from anger at her words and turning into a palpable panic that forces its way through my blood system. Staring wide-eyed, I realize there’sonly one way out of this predicament.

Because yes, while we could force her to stay with us forever—lock her up in this castle and never let her out—what good would it be if she hated our guts? If she couldn’t even bear the sight of us? Flinching awayeverytime we would touch her?

Lead settles in my stomach as I come to the conclusion; all I want is for her to be happywith me. Us. But that is not possible if she doesn’t choose to stay with us on her own accord. We will never own her heart if she doesn’t give it away freely.

Despite the restraints, Isolde manages to stand up on her trembling feet, staring down at us with an odd look on her face I can’t quite decipher. “Please…forget about me.”

“Do you remember when we used to sneak out of our rooms at night so our parents wouldn’t hear?” I scramble to say, my voice quiet. “We’d sit together under the porch just to hear the rain pouring down, huddled up in that too-small blanket only really fitting one person.”

There’s a melancholy expression on her face as a small, sad smile twitches her lips. She nods.

“You said the rain sounded like a wall of protection,” Isolde murmurs.

A light chuckle escapes me at the memory. “I remember that one time you hit your head on the low stairs and started crying. Your tears were so beautiful yet broke my heart all the same. You ran into Celine’s arms just so she could hold you, and I got you another blanket and a pack of ice because you refused to go inside.”

“I did love the sound of rain.”

Celine shifts closer, a haunted look on her face. Something small and fragile. “You then said it would be us forever. That the rain would protect us all and wash away the evil in the world,” she takes a shuddering breath. “I still think about that. I know we haven’t been good for you. Iknowthat. But you promised itwould be us. Always.”

A kind of silence follows Celine’s words, thick and insufferable.

“Some things aren’t forgivable,” Isolde replies with a hard expression, but there’s a broken edge to her tone.

Celine’s gaze drops. “That time, you also said that rain was the tears of one’s soul. That beneath the sky, under the downpour, everything could be forgiven.”

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