Page 84 of House of Ruin
Did she even want to know? She probably didn’t. It was better if she didn’t indulge in heart-to-hearts with Blaze when she was in the middle of carrying out her revenge plan. But curiosity was a nasty bitch that was always hungry.
“Galliermo said your father wouldn’t allow it,” Blaze murmured. “That if he found out I laid hands on you, he’d be furious and he’d take you away.”
Alecto couldn’t breathe. Her lungs froze with fear.
“And you know, it wasn’t those words that rang weird.” Blaze shook his head. He rubbed his face in his palms as if he couldn’t believe what was going to come out of his mouth. “It was the dark expression he had, the tone of voice as if… Ah, never mind. Maybe I imagined shit.”
There were two things Alecto could have done.
She could have laughed in his face and said that Blaze was just imagining shit. That he was looking for an explanation that would make him feel better about hurting her then. She could have denied whatever suspicion he had.
Or Alecto could have allowed herself to let loose for the very first time and tell. Open the box she had been stuffing with pain for years, let it all out, and finally let someone see behind the wall. She could have reached out to Blaze.
She did neither. Instead of denying, of asking, of talking, Alecto just stayed silent.
But the thing about silence was that it was always an answer.
“Alecto?” Blaze’s voice was hoarse when he spoke.
Now she wasn’t looking at him anymore, her eyes cast down into the clear water of the bath that was getting cold. Fast.
There wasn’t an explanation for why Alecto chose to stay silent, why she chose to neither deny nor confirm. Maybe the silence was a call for help. Maybe she was tired of carrying the shame with her. Tired of it tainting her life.
“Alecto.” This time it wasn’t a question coming out of his mouth.
Blaze’s hand flashed in the periphery as he gripped the side of the bathtub, drawing himself closer.
Or maybe this was a mistake.
“I saw you go into his study on the night of the auction,” Blaze admitted. Alecto still couldn’t turn her head to face him. She frowned. “It wasn’t any of my business, I know that. But I followed you down the hall anyway.”
The next breath Alecto drew was ragged. She was choking on air. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was wrap herself in a blanket and go to sleep.
And never wake up.
From the side of her eyes, she registered Blaze lowering his chin on the back of his hand gripping the edge of the tub. She couldn’t see his eyes, the look shining in those intense obsidians, but Alecto had a feeling that there was nothing but an endless sea of understanding waiting for her.
Which she didn’t want.
“You know, the first time Galliermo dragged me after him to his study for a punishment, I was seven. Maybe eight,” Blaze whispered after a long moment of silence.
Alecto’s head whirled, and she finally looked at him with wide eyes.
Punishment?
Slowly, Alecto blinked, searching Blaze’s face, which was calm like the early mornings, before the sun rose over the horizon. His usually stormy eyes were solemn now.
“Dominic and I, we got into trouble. We did a spell, and it went horribly wrong. The whole wall of windows lining the living room exploded,” Blaze continued, keeping Alecto’s gaze. He smirked before adding, “I took the blame. Dominic was already in so much trouble—” Blaze stopped himself, shaking his head. “Never mind. That was the day when he first invited me behind closed doors to his private space and beat me until there wasn’t a space on my ribs that wasn’t blue.”
The only thing Alecto could do was stare at him. Silent.
One didn’t have to be a genius to know Galliermo was a cruel man. But this… Alecto would have never guessed this was the reality of the prominent Leveau family.
“And Galliermo is nothing if not consistent.” The crooked smile that twisted his face was bitter. “To this day, whenever I get an invitation, I know what’s coming.”
Alecto wanted to scream. Wished she could pull Blaze closer to her and wrap him so close to her chest, they’d become one. Hoped that one day Galliermo would get what’s coming for him. Just as she hoped Alatar would too.
“That’s sick.”
