The Hidden Crystal

Chapter 36

There was silence in the living room for a moment after Kelnor left. Iris sipped her tea, averting her eyes from Char and Rath. While she was talking, the fairies had settled on her lap and the cushion beside her, opposite from Char, and they remained there still, their soft golden light lending warmth to the otherwise chilly atmosphere. Char was surprised Iris wasn't crying. He glanced over at Rath, whose blue eyes were dark with anger and unfocused, and he slid closer to Iris and draped his arm across her shoulders. She looked up at him quickly, but he kept his eyes on Rath for the moment.

"Hey, Rath."

Rath snapped back to reality and met Char's gaze. "What?"

"Now would probably be a good time to tell Mother she's back."

Rath's lips curled up in a smirk. "Meaning you want some alone time. I get it." He stood up and headed for the door.

"Iris needs a new wardrobe, too," Char added.

"Nope," Rath shot back over his shoulder as he left. "It's your turn for a shopping trip with Mother."

Iris dropped her gaze back to the teacup and didn't say anything. Char took the empty cup from her hands and leaned forward to set it on the coffee table, returning his arm to her shoulders and his free hand to her far cheek to turn her gently to face him.

"You didn't tell them everything."

She shook her head slightly.

"What did he do to you, Iris?" Char asked gently.

She looked up at him, her brown eyes pained, and dipped down to rest her head on his shoulder and break their eyeline again. "I thought the fairies were spoiling me that first day after you left. But they knew what was coming."

"Iris."

"He pretended to be a voice from the amulet. And...he pretended to be you."

Char sucked in a breath.

"Stroking my hair and touching my cheek. He kept doing that. Even when he was strapping me down to the table, telling me how he killed Jonah right there, telling me what he was going to do to me. He had a fairy trapped in a jar, and he killed it, right in front of me, and then he started. And when he was done...when he carried me back to bed...he kissed me."

"I'm going to kill him," Char growled, protectively pulling her tighter. "I knew something wasn't right, and I knew you were lying to me when I came back, but I thought it couldn't be that serious if you wouldn't tell me. And he had the nerve to smile and tell me you were such a good girl, such a good student, doing exactly what he told you. He was talking about how you were letting him torture you. Was he there in the room with you when I left? When I saw you through the window?"

She nodded. "He was sitting right next to me. I thought he was going to kill a fairy because I couldn't convince you that nothing was wrong. He made them bring him the book you'd given me, and he made me show it to him, like I did to you. Then he burned it, and he took me up to his study."

"Iris...I'm so sorry." Char rested his cheek on her head, wrapping his other arm across her front to complete his comforting embrace.

"I asked him once, after he kissed me, if he even felt anything when he did that. He laughed and said he didn't, but he enjoyed making me suffer."

"He's never touching you again," Char said vehemently. "I don't care what it takes. You're never going through that again."

A fairy flitted into their downcast view, hovering over their laps with the book Iris said was burned.

"Thank you," she said, a smile in her voice as she took it from the fairy. "I didn't know they saved it. This is a copy they made. They gave it to me the next day, after I...took their punishment for hiding the original."