Page 77 of These Eternal Bones
“I love you.” The words leave him like a plea. Like he’s begging, but for what, I don’t know, because the wide walls are closing in around me.
“Elric, you cannot mean tocageme. You cannot do this, you’dnever. You would neverdosomething like this,” I ramble, my chest tight.
He flinches, his tendrils limp on the ground. “I cannot…I cannot andwillnot suffer your loss again. It is all I think about. My mind is not my own. I will not survive it, Molly.”
The crack that settled in my chest snaps open, breaking and splitting like a chasm. “No!”
“In time, you will forgive me. You will not be alone here, not as long as I live. It will keep you safe, Molly, keep you where others cannot go.”
“Itrippedlast time. This will do nothing but keep me a prisoner. You’re not making any sense, Elric.” I breathe, tears cascading down my cheeks. “Is that why you wanted to walk today? Oh god, did you truly mean to allow me sunlight for the last time?” He doesn’t answer, and a sob rips from my throat. “You knew, while I giggled and laughed and kissed you, you knew what you would do the whole time!”
He doesn’t look away from me, but suddenly I find it hard to meet his eyes as I begin to pace. “How long have you planned this? This is why nobody wanted me up here! I-I, oh lord, how many of them knew?”
Silence.
“How long, Elric!?” I scream, my sobs watching my chest, such a ripe flash of betrayal stealing the breath from my lungs.
“One hundred years.”
My knees give at that, not even my heavy winter skirts saving them from the thud of the floor as I grip the bodice swathing my chest. It’s too tight, the fabric too heavy and constricting. “Everyone knew.” It’s not a question but a statement, and he doesn’t correct me. My gasping, ragged sobs rattle the walls. They were my family… my new family…
One hundred years…
From the very start, he knew.
Oh god, heknew.
My head snaps at the sound of his own ragged breath. “Surely you do not mean to join me in my cage?” The words leave me in an ugly, hateful tone I’d never heard before.
“Syringa, please, you must under–”
“Leave,” I order from the floor, my eyes incensed and glued to the proud, utterly mad Vampire of Port Cycle, the God of Blood and Eternal Death. To mymate.
A growl rumbles from his chest as he steels himself, unlocking and stepping outside the golden bars to the small walkway in between. When the lock snaps back into place, suddenly his tendrils surge through the bars, snapping toward me until they disappear in a plume of mist.
I hold my breath until it fades.
“If you need me–”
“I will not.” I choke out, bringing my knees to my chest.
He lingers for a while before leaving, but he doesn’t go far. His steps are measured as he descends the stairs, but there’s no opening or closing of the lower door. He simply lowers himself out of sight, sitting on the rough wooden step and listening to me cry.
37
Another One Hundred and Seventy-Two Years
Molly
Elric stayed on the stairs that night…and every night since. Seven, going on eight, judging by the meals I’m brought and by his constant lurking, pacing, and lingering. Péal’s eyes were lit with mist as she brought in my dinner an hour ago, looking at me through her pale lashes. I’d been angry, angrier than I’ve ever been, when she first came. Elric let her into the cage to clean, and for a moment, I thought of hitting the woman who had, by all accounts, been my friend for nearly seven hundred years. She’d known.
They all knew what he was planning. That day, when he held me outside and their eyes cast down, their greeting was not as cheerful as the day before…they knew.
My fists clench, pain lacing around my battering ram heart. They betrayed me. I hold on to that concept, trying to ignore the filtering doubt.
But did they?
Did they really?
