A Castle Of Crystal

16. Soul sisters

What...just happened...? I watched Kane go as I stood frozen to the spot, eyes snapping down to the item in my hand and beginning to tremble. "Scylla...?"

"Nova!"

"M-My animus..." I whispered, clapping my free hand over my mouth and choking back a sob as I sunk to the floor. The vibration, the magnetic pull of her artifact as I clutched her in my hands for the first time in over a decade absolutely destroyed me. I held her to my heart and listened to her bubbling sounds while I cried. "Scylla, my dear, he had you all this time?!"

"He kept me safe...he wanted...to fix this..."

She was crying, I could hear it loud and clear and I realized in seconds I'd made a drastic, horrible mistake out of anger and I shouldn't have even opened my mouth. Nova you knew his life wasn't good, why on earth did you say that?! I scolded myself harshly through my tears as I got back to my feet and stumbled to my bedroom, still clutching her to my chest. The amount of shame that burned in my body was enough to ignite an inferno and the desperate want to destroy everything overwhelmed me until I laughed wryly and realized I'd already done that exact thing.

"Please..."

"Please what?" I gasped, fumbling with her artifact and gazing at the red shine like it was her horns in my hands again.

"Fix this."

I choked on another sob and collapsed onto my bed, hunched over and shaking while I wanted to scream at myself. How could I possibly fix this? His dark, angry, betrayed words sunk in and made me cry even harder.

'I hope you can be happy now'.

"I haven't...I haven't been happy until...until..." I didn't want to admit the truth to myself but I knew it deep down that the time I had spent with him this week was the first time I hadn't had to worry about him. It took me a few to put it together that he must've found her after his father passed and dug into his past a little more without the fear of retribution for it. "He's been trying to bring you back to me because he knew what you meant to me, wasn't he?"

"Yes." There was a pause and a low gurgle. "Kane misses you."

"The world isn't what it used to be here my dear. We can't...we can't go back to that."

"Not the world. You." Another pause. "He just wants you back..."

My heart slammed against my ribcage and I stifled another cry of pain, instead getting to my feet and reaching for the backpack I'd so unceremoniously dropped in here upon my return. The sun was starting to rise outside and I knew him and Jules were going out so I stuffed my Terran clothing into the bag before I reached for her again and ported back. I continued my sniffling as I kicked my shoes off at the front door, starting to walk back to the spare bedroom in the dark only to watch Jules appear, her brows furrowed until she saw the state I was in while I froze to the spot like a deer in headlights.

"Nova? Are you alright?!"

"I-I thought you had a date—" I started, my face burning with embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were home."

"Kane...won't pick up his phone," she admitted and my stomach twisted with guilt, "he called me at lunch. Sounded pretty mad since he figured out it was you."

"Fuck, I'm so sorry Juliet..." I groaned, holding my hand over my mouth to keep from crying more. To my surprise she wrapped her arms around me and it only made me cry harder.

"I take it he came after you and things didn't go well."

"I screwed up so bad."

She let out a gentle sigh and walked me over to sit down on the couch, letting me attempt to relax while she made some tea in the kitchen. I pulled the lacing on my stay and plucked the pins from my hair, running my fingers through it and letting the wavy mess fan out around my shoulders. When she finally returned she had two cups in her hands and she placed one in mine, reaching over to curiously pick up the horn in my lap before she realized what it was.