Page 38 of Reflections of Silence

“Maybe we do.” Amy poured more of the liquid into me.

I blinked at the shadows as they performed their never-ending dance, warring and merging against the rush of the ship upon the open ocean roaring in my ears.

Amy’s lips brushed my ears. “But you’ll be the whore, soon enough. He’ll love you, want you. Care for you.” Her voice filled with venom. The shadows above me danced in a frenzy of limbs, their dance filled with desire and passion. “You’ll let me into his house so I can take everything, destroy everything he wants, and leave him with nothing. Like he left me.”

I blinked, my lips numb, but I had no words to give her. Figures swarmed across the ceiling, scorching the wood there black with an eternity of sins, and I fell into its eternal darkness.

“Gella,” Sebastian hissed, withdrawing his lips from my neck.

I blinked. The overheated cabin air was replaced with the bite of the ocean air, fresh and sharp. His hands clutched me tight tohim as I swayed where I still sat on the rocky bench, the roll of the sands alive beneath my feet.

He swore above my head, a string of words in a language I didn’t understand. The air around us charged with the promise of violence in his voice. His mouth glistened dark and shadowed as he stood over me, somehow more imposing than before. Looking up at him was like staring into the face of a dark, vengeful god. His gaze dropped to me, his hooded eyes those of a hunter.

For the first time, I was afraid.

I pressed back, pushing against his hands, but they wound around me, unyielding. My heart racing, I struggled in his grip, but only succeeded in drawing his attention back to my throat. He dipped his head, and I shrieked, my mind jamming as I knew what would come. A ripping, tearing in a beast-like manner that would end my life here, near the muddied waters of nothingness. Maybe my body would end up taken below the sands by one of the creatures, the damage he did to me indistinguishable.

Despite my fear his touch was light, licking, sucking. Soothing, not hurting. I trembled with fear and shock in his hold, my mind still convinced he would kill me while my body fought to trust the man who had more than proven his worth.

After a time, he drew back, his lips clean, and bent his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry, Gella.”

I nodded against him, confused. “What are you sorry for?”

“That she was inside you.”

“What?”

“The blackness. You were right. You should have been afraid. Your body should have reacted the way it does now. She’s hidden something from you—from me. I can’t see it, but whatever she put there, it’s not—it isn’t you.”

My mouth dried. “What do you mean, it isn’t me? What part of me?”

Pity consumed his gaze, and I hated it, pulling away from him. He let me go. “The part of you that accepts me, I suspect. She made you want to love me, Gella.”

“No.No.I—” I searched my mind, running over my feelings for him. I wanted this, the assurance of his safety, his protection. I wanted to feel this way about him, and taking that away…tears sprang to my eyes, tumbling over my lashes in a cascade of grief for something I hadn’t lost yet. “Non.”

His smile was sad as he dropped his hands and turned away. I waited for whatever would come next, staring up at his broad back, but he said nothing at all. Finally, he took a step forward, away from me.

“Wait, Sebastian— Are you telling me to leave?” A sob tore from my throat.

You promised me.

He paused, his back to me. Moonlight shrouded his silhouette against the dark of the forest beyond.

“Not yet. Follow the path. It will take you to the house.”

He hesitated a second longer, his head turning a fraction in my direction. Then he strode away, disappearing deep into the forest where I couldn't follow, leaving me alone at the edge of the garden.

My feet took the path he’d indicated without my permission. I watched the ground as I walked, my slippers covered in dark stains. The night quietened around me, sinking into the depths of hours when even the night animals paused and hid away.

My fingers brushed stone limply. I stopped beside the still fountain and sank onto the wide, sandstone lip. I didn’t know how long I sat there, night air numbing my skin, much as hehad done before he bit me. I willed tears to come but there was nothing inside me. I was as numb inside, it appeared, as I was on the surface.

Empty, like him.

“He’ll return with the night.” A voice spoke over my shoulder.

I blinked slowly, wondering if I had turned to stone like the gargoyle perched behind me.

“Will he?” My voice was rough. I swallowed. “He wants me to leave, Dolion.”

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