Heart Of Darkness

Chapter 24

Angelica paced back and forth in her room, feeling anxious, while her brother followed her with his gaze until he became dizzy and gave up.

"Why didn't you tell me first?" She scolded.

"I am sorry. I thought it was the right opportunity." He said.

She stopped pacing and looked at him. "Why did you tell him?" she asked curiously. She thought he liked the King the most.

"He is honest. If I tell him, I will know his intentions. He won't pretend to be kind and then betray me.."

Angelica didn't know him as much as her brother knew him, so she trusted his intuition. "What about the King?"

"I can't know for sure if I can trust him," William replied.

If the King were a charmer, it would be hard to know what he thought if William told him. She was proud of her clever brother.

William was reading Lord Rayven's book when they went to bed at night. The one that had caught her and his attention in the bookstore. He had refused to lend it to her, but he gave it to William. He had something against her.

"It seems like you are getting along with Lord Rayven." She began the conversation.

"He is easy to talk to." Her brother said.

Easy? She wanted to laugh. Her brother preferred honesty over politeness. Or maybe Lord Rayven only behaved like that toward her.

"Did you speak to the King?" William asked.

Her brother was still concerned about the monsters and wanted her protected.

"Yes. We should forget about him. He doesn't want to marry me." Angelica admitted blatantly.

"Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

He had said something about their fate ending badly. Something about a woman who looked like her: Angelica suspected that it was a past lover from the expressions on his face while he spoke about her. Could he have been affectionate toward her because of the woman in his past?

Angelica realized that her brother was studying her while she was thinking. "What is it?" she asked.

"You don't seem sad or heartbroken." He noted.

"Well, I never gave him my heart, so it can't be broken.".

He frowned. "I was wrong then."

She chuckled. "No. I do like him of all the men I have met, but..." she tried to find a way to explain it. "I don't know. I am disappointed but not heartbroken."

Angelica was disappointed because she had hoped she would at least marry someone she understood and liked her. Now she would have to struggle to find someone she could at least tolerate. She dared not hope for more for fear of being disappointed again.

"What will you do now?" He wondered.

"I am sure there will be someone else to like." She lied. She was not sure.

William went back to reading his book.

"Is it frightening?" she wondered.

​​"No. It is sad."

He seemed so engrossed in it that he read it with a frown. Angelica was becoming too curious but didn't want to interrupt him. When he finally fell asleep, she took the book and began to read it.

It was about a man and a monster. Both are trapped in the same body. Both are each other's companions in sorrow and pain. The man was tortured. He didn't want to be with the monster that kept growing inside his body and having more control over him with each passing day.