Page 53 of Sophie's Ruin
How did he find me?
My muscles locked up as I met Henry’s deep-blue gaze. He was sitting on his haunches, peering down at me where I was slumped against the wall on the floor. The night had descended, and moonlight had replaced the sunlight seeping through the window. The silvery sheen caressed one side of Henry’s face, highlighting his harsh, unyielding features. Tension bracketed his mouth, and shadows crawled behind his eyes. Not the shadows I’d been growing close with. They were shadows of concern and apprehension. I didn’t want him to be concerned for me. He didn’t need to be concerned about anything in his life anymore. I would ensure that nothing and no one ever touched him again.
“How did you find me?” I asked, severing the tense silence between us.
“I will always find you. Even if you don’t realize you’re lost,” Henry replied softly. Despite his quiet tone, determination dripped from every word as if he was making an unbreakable vow.
“I’m not lost, but found. All the pieces of who I am finally fit together,” I told him, hoping he’d understand.
Concern in his stormy blue eyes intensified.
“But this is not who you are. There is light inside of you, remember?”
“What good is that light? It did nothing to fend off the shadows. I was only able to come for you when I embraced the inner darkness. It helped me save you and bring you home.”
“You would have found another way. That way just seemed easier. But that’s what the darkness wants you to believe. That things are easier with it by your side. But nothing worth having should come easily.”
“Why not? Don’t we deserve it? After everything we’ve been through?”
Henry pulled away slightly, his already pale face growing ashen. He was looking at me like he had back at the estate after we’d made love, like he didn’t recognize who was in front of him. The look hurt me. How could he look at me like that? Didn’t he know that everything I had done was for him?
“It’s the hard times that make us who we are,” he finally said, his voice hoarse.
I shook my head. “Not anymore. I refuse to accept that when there is another way.”
“Sophie, the darkness is not the way.”
His words did something to me, stroking something in me that raised my hackles. It was as if the darkness reared its head and hissed at what he was suggesting.
“You need to leave,” I snarled, not recognizing my own voice. The sound was rough and guttural, coming from deep within mythroat. Before, I’d wanted to never be apart from Henry, but now I couldn’t stand being near him because he was trying to hold me back like Celeste had done.
“I’m not leaving here without you,” he said fiercely, his features becoming even more unyielding in the moonlight.
“Then I’ll go,” I told him, rising from my spot on the floor.
“Where will you go?” he asked, rising to his full height and towering over me. “What happened yesterday after you left me?”
I flinched at his words because they made it sound like I’d abandoned him.
“I didn’tleaveyou,” I bit out. “I will come back to you once this is over.”
“Whatisthis exactly? A quest for revenge?”
“You can call it what you want.”
“Then I will call it what it is—madness… Sophie, you’re not yourself?—”
“Stop saying that,” I hissed, throwing him a scathing look. “Stop saying I’m not myself. I’m the only one who knows who I truly am.”
Shock splashed across his face before deep sorrow settled into his features.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped.
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“I’m sorry I had to leave your side.”
A strangled sound left me.
