Page 187 of House of Roots and Ruin
“…I think someone’s following us.”
Camille followed my gaze as I watched Constance play out her final night again. I knew she couldn’t see her but noticed the hairs on my sister’s arms rise, her flesh goose bumped.
“I will,” she promised. “Verity…” She eyed the empty corridor uneasily. “Are you ready to see Alexander?”
I nodded and she opened the door.
“Verity?” he murmured as we entered the darkened room and approached the bed.
The only source of light was a single taper candle on the far side of the room—its wax blessedly a soft shade of amber. I could barely make out his huddled form within all of the sheets and pillows. The healers had warned of his injuries before allowing me to visit, saying they thought it better to be well prepared.
The list was long and painful—a shattered nose, scorched flesh on both his hands and across his neck. Several of his wounds required stitches and the black thread made his face resemble a gruesome patchwork quilt. There’d been damage to his eyes and though I didn’t understand everything they spoke of—iris distortions and corneal abrasions—I knew he needed to remain in a safe, dark environment if they were to heal.
“I’m here,” I said as Camille pushed the chair alongside his bed for me. She gave my arm a sympathetic squeeze before slipping from the room and closing the door behind her.
Once we were alone, I took his hand tenderly in my good one, mindful of his injuries beneath the thick gauze. “Are you all right?”
His laugh was soft. “No. Not really.”
“Have they given you any medication for the pain?”
I think he shook his head. It was hard to tell with all the dressings and wraps covering his face. “I’ve been so worried about you. I was certain you’d been killed. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Grandmère…”
“I’m here. I’m all right,” I promised.
“I can’t believe…I still don’t comprehend what happened. I’ve been lying here, thinking everything over, and I just…It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“I don’t understand it all myself,” I confessed. He’d lost his entire family in one horrible day. His mother, his father, his grandmother, two brothers he’d barely even known. “But we’ll make our way through it. Together.”
His fingers slackened against mine, loosening his hold. “About that…Verity.”
A cold, hollow spot bloomed beneath my sternum.
“I…I can’t imagine you’d want to remain here, not after…everything. You’ve been poisoned and drugged, lied to and assaulted. I’d understand if you wanted to flee and forget everything about this place. Forget about me. Forget that we ever…” He let out a shaky breath. “Know that I won’t harbor any anger or resentment toward you.”
“For what?” I asked, unable to discern his meaning.
“For breaking off the engagement,” he clarified as if it were obvious.
I was surprised by how much his words stung. “Is that what you want?”
His sigh offered no indication one way or the other.
“Alex?”
“No,” he whispered, his voice quavering and on the verge of tears. “I don’t. But I…I didn’t go through everything you did. No one was trying to use me for…for…” He stuttered to a stop, a sob breaking. “For all of that.”
“But they were. Hewas.You were as much a victim of thatas me.” I wanted to reach out and cup his face but I couldn’t see how to do so without causing pain, so I stroked the top of his arm instead. “I fell in love with you, not your family, not your title. I fell in love with the boy who makes my heart happy, who showed me a new way to watch the rain…All of the things that happened—those awful, terrible things—they haven’t changed that. That love hasn’t gone anywhere.”
The room was filled with a weighted silence and the longer it lasted, the greater my doubt grew.
“Ver—”
My stomach dropped, hearing Viktor’s favored nickname wet on Alex’s lips.
For a moment, Viktor was all I could hear, his laughter ringing out in the stairwell.
He struggled to sit up, breaking the word in two. “—ity, I can’t.”
