Page 37 of When Bones Whisper
“You do not like it.”
“They die once cut,” she explained in a whisper, hating herself for saying that when he’d finally shown some measure of thoughtfulness. Why, however, she could not understand.
“I apologize. I should not have assumed.”
He turned to leave, but she reached out and grabbed his arm. “Why did you bring me this?”
“You said you wanted to see them,” he said, revealing nothing in his expression. “You were upset when you left.”
“You just didn’t want me trying to escape.”
With a clenched jaw, he said, “No. I just wanted you to have something beautiful.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
“Thank you,” she said, if only to break the awkwardness.
“I am disturbing you,” he said with a glance around her bedroom. “I will take my leave.”
“You’re not,” she confessed. “Honestly, I hate being alone. Ever since my family died, I cannot cope with silence. My thoughts are loud,” she admitted, unsure why. Anxiety spilled through her veins, and she added, “they’re dark too and they’re getting darker.”
“When did they start?”
“After I buried my sister.”
He pushed his hands into his pockets and said, “Our minds do that sometimes after a tragedy. They challenge us with the very worst parts of what happened, but you are not those thoughts. Let them pass, but don’t linger on them. They’re not you.”
“I will try,” she said, her anxiety easing.
His gaze drifted to her throat, before he quickly averted his eyes. “The sun is almost up.”
“Yes, of course. I shouldn’t have asked you to stay.”
“I shouldn’t.” He took a hesitant step to the door, before turning, his mouth opening as if to say something, but instead, walked out.
“Good night,” she called after him, staring at the door long after he was gone, her stomach in knots. Slowly, she brought the petals to her nose and breathed the scent in, before closing the door and turning to Duke who was sleeping in the chair by her bed.
Those dark thoughts were not her own. Those evil things that sometimes crept into her mindwere not her. His words helped and she clung to them when she climbed into bed before blowing out the candlestick, feeling much better with Duke close by.
Chapter Ten
After sleeping the day away, Charlotte opened her eyes to the dimly lit room and glanced at the window. Through the crack in the curtains, she watched the horizon swallow the last of the sun's rays, leaving behind a dark purple sky.
She smiled when Duke snored from the bottom of the bed, his claws curling out against the soft sheets when he meowed in his sleep, his eyes restless from a dream. The scent of the single rose wafted over from the dresser, and she remembered she hadn’t put it in any water.
“Sorry,” she whispered to the flower after climbing out of bed and placing it in a vase with the bouquet that had been there since she arrived. Carefully, she pulled a petal between her fingers, rubbing the soft texture. She still wasn’t sure the real reason he had brought her the flower last night, but she couldn’t let one gesture get in the way of what needed to happen.
She would not feel guilty about betraying a man who would easily kill her if he knew the truth. She had two days left until the ball, enough time to sabotage their plans so the Avery family would live. While they were alive, Nathaniel would not perform the ritual out of fear of what they would do to him when he was mortal and weak. If she could postpone the ball, then she could find a way to escape, not that she had anywhere to go. Even if she somehow made it out of there, she couldn’t go home. It would be the first place both the witches and vampires searched for her, and she didn’t know or trust anyone else to take her in.
She was entirely alone, but she did have her magic.
There is another escape from all this suffering. One jump and it will all be over.
The voice rushed into her ears.
“I do not want to die,” she whispered aloud, recalling Nathaniel’s words. It was just a lingering effect from the trauma of the massacre, that was all.
