Page 82 of These Eternal Bones
Like the most important thing right now.
“You could stop this at any time. You could make me like you.”
He nods against my head, sensing I have more to say.
“Why not just end this hell?”
“Turning you would break my end of the curse. I would damn not only myself but you and everyone else in this hazy town for the rest of our immortal lives. It is also a hell of biblical proportions, Molly. One I would suffer a thousand lives for before I inflicted it on you. This way you canlive,outside of this place, at least for a while.”
“Is it truly that bad?”
“To have seen the world, ruled it, only to be shut away while it moves on, yes. But above all, you love flowers.”
I pull away from him, just my head, just to watch his handsome face. I do love flowers, although I’d never said as much out loud. I suppose I paint them a lot.
“They will not grow here. I have robbed you of enough. I cannot curse you to an eternityhere, in this cold, nothingness place without your flowers. Without a chance to see the most beautiful ones. I made a list of them all, where they grow. I want to take you some day.”
My lip wobbles.
We don’t speak again as he settles me on my painting stool, washing the tacky scissors in the basin sink. Something odd, uncomfortable, and…heavy settles in my chest as I watch him from the far full-length mirror as he cuts my hair, doing a much better job of it than I had. He’s tender, touching each strand as though it’s priceless.
He scoured the world so that I could have a baby. Decimated an entire town to avenge my death. Gone mad so that I could see flowers.
It seems a silly concept now, to give up on him, when he has done nothing but endure for me.
39
Plans of Great Deception
Molly
A few days later, when the poor doctor showed up again, hoping for an audience since their last meeting was cut short by my impromptu breakdown, it took me no small amount of convincing to get the man to leave my side. Although the lack of windows and the way my legs ached to take a long walk, what we had now wasn’t too different from what we’d had before. Spending most of our time holed up, anyway. I had given myself something to cling onto, a bright side. Like the little black rock that sits on the edge of my desk in my room. It took a great deal of thinking to finally understand the bars weren’t meant for me. If this is what it takes to ease his mind, it is something I can stomachfor now.
I wait, my fists gripping the bars as I watch him descend the steps out of sight. When the door opens, I call out. “Will you call for my selkie, please?”
He hesitates, and I take a deep breath, hoping to keep most of my negativity out of the bond. “I just…I’m feeling a bit lonely.” It’s a low blow but so is locking your mate in a cage.
“I will see that she heads straight up,” he offers reluctantly before leaving, locking the door behind him. My lips quirk, not quite a smile, but close as I lean my back against the bars and wait.
Despite the jarring monotony over what I now know to be a month in here, it’s been excellent for things. I’ve been paying attention, a lot of attention. Aside from Elric, only Tien holds a key for the door below, but much to my vampire’s rage if he knew, Tien often passed that key to Péal during the day. So that she may tend to me without his constant locking and unlocking. The only one with a key to the cage itself is Elric, but that’s a problem for a different day.
“Good afternoon mistress!” Péal calls out as she bounds up the stairs, her steps slowing as she reaches the bars. Anyone is ever only allowed inside when Elric is present.
“Péal–”
She cuts me off, her lips pooling into a wide grin. “We’re about to get into trouble, aren’t we?”
My smile rivals hers as we both press ourselves to the bars. “You have a key to this room, right?”
She nods. “But not the cage.”
I wave her off, already knowing that, my brows knotting together. “I simply need you to lose track of it for a little while, somewhere where Cartiel might find it. Perhaps tell him to come.”
“Mistress…things have been tense with him lately.”
My frown deepens. “What do you mean? Isn’t it always?”
She gives me an incredulous look. “Tien seems to think he’s not doing what he’s meant to.” She leans closer, her gray hair dusting my fingers as they wrap around the bar. My palms are already growing sweaty. “You know I would never eavesdrop…”Yes she would. ”but I believe they fought, the golden man–”
