Irish Lullaby (Book One of A Violent Melody Duet)

Chapter Eight

She sat by herself in the plane, her mother was the closest to her but everyone else was out of sight. One row up and in a seat facing her, she kept glancing at Fallon who had her knees tucked around her arms and her face turned towards the window for most of the flight so far. She would turn and see her mother drinking almost every time she caught sight of her.
At one point she had brought out her little box of pills again and took two. She didn't say a word to her daughter but Fallon could tell she knew. Was it written across her face? Was it the way she practically ran from everyone, especially men, when they grew close through security? Did she know it was going to happen?
Their talk the night before kept playing over and over in her head, it was so odd and such an inappropriate time to discuss the matter. Has she been warning her, preparing her? She knew her mother was cruel but was she this sick and twisted? The effects from her drinking were still heavy in her head, along with so many dark thoughts.
She could be pregnant and that left her feeling worse than any of it.
She did not want to bear a child of this man, she would rather rip out her own womb to let a fetus of his creation grow within her. Her throat clinched at the thought of it, of growing round and heavy, of experiencing the pain of childbirth only to be met with a little tiny thing that looked like the man she wanted to watch die screaming and writhing in pain.

She could not be pregnant

She would not be pregnant.

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, shrinking into herself. Her brother's eyes, wide with confusion, met her own. They were rimmed red and were slick with tears that fought their way out. It looked almost as if he was going to ask her if she was okay, like he actually cared enough to want to know. Instead he backed away and took the seat across from her, he didn't speak a word but she rested easier as he glanced out the window beside him.
Edward never talked much, it was his way to handle life. He watched and observed and reacted but words were not his first choice. After he and Ava lost their baby in the car crash he talked even less. Ava herself lost a spark for a long time that brought a warmth to her brother she had never seen. She had visited their home once or twice since and each time it felt like a cave of cold agony.
Ava walked around like a ghost in her nightgowns and Edward watched her with such loss in his eyes it almost broke her. It hadn't been till the two surprised everyone of the news that Ava had birthed their first child four months ago that he went back to the regular solemn he held and she once again saw light in her sister in law's eyes. She had given birth to a healthy and beautiful baby boy, Garren. They had kept it a secret as Ava had a hard time getting herself through it all with her sanity, at least that's what she overheard their maids speaking of when she and her family had visited for a week to meet the child.
Edward was almost back to who he was, maybe even better. She wouldn't be surprised if having a child had changed something in him, made him more gentle then he ever had been. It might have been the only reason she was able to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep and let the fears dim for a while.
The plane was still in the air when she woke, her brother still sat across from her but he wasn't looking at the window. His dark brown eyes, the same as their fathers, were on her. He was assessing, it felt like every little detail she wanted to keep hidden was getting thrown across a table for him to pick at. It unnerved her but she said nothing as their eyes met and his gaze darkened.
"Ava would like for you to stay with us for a week or so, she has lacked female companionship since her mother returned home." This came out of nowhere, while she had been the closest with Ava out of her four sister in laws she wouldn't call her a friend. She was married to her brother and even if Edward was the best out of them it wasn't a hard title to gain. All he had to do was not attack her physically or mentally and he had won his spot.
"If Nicholas allows it." She muttered, her voice cracking over his name. It was something that didn't go unnoticed by her brother.
"He will, she can help with wedding details and he is allowed to have two of his men come with you."
"Have you already discussed this with him?" Had he come near her while she slept was what she really wanted to ask, she needed to know he had touched her. Her skin was still raw and irritated from the shower she had taken to wash away every bit of skin he had touched. It was one of the few reasons she could handle being in this plane, why she hadn't yet pried open the side door and flung herself out into the tempting sky.
"Yes, I approached him about it while you slept." The tension she hadn't noticed in her shoulders eased and she let her head rest against the back of her seat.
"I would like to." She'd move in with him if she could, she'd live in a hollowed out tree in the woods if it meant never seeing NIcholas again.
"We will stay in Greece for three days for business then you will return to London with me." The knowledge countries would be between her and her fiance was like a shot of joy straight into her veins. She didn't even care if she'd have to breathe in the smog of the city, she loved cities. Being surrounded by so many bodies, blinding in and not being noticed as everyone went about their day. She was one of many in a city, not the prize locked away, not the pretty face and quiet mouthed girl who was to be sold off, just a simple girl walking down the street doing whatever she wanted  cause no one fucking cared.
She'd still have guards and rules but nothing outweighed the benefit of this trip for her, all she had to do was last three days in the company of her fiance
—
Day one she spent in her room, convincing them all she had jet lag and needed to sleep the day away. Instead she spent most of it in her shower under the strong spray of freezing water. It was a bitter pain that had her body tense from the constant hit of it but it kept her mind distracted. Her maids came to give her meals and ask if she needed anything and everytime they did they held a weary look on their faces. It was nearing nine when she ended her torment and went to sleep.
Her night was filled with horrible dreams and memories intertwining. Nicholas's hands on her body turned to her finding out she was pregnant with his child. It flashed forward years to where she sat watching a miniature demon of a kid bully staff and throw insults at her. She'd wake every hour or so with a sob in her throat just to fall asleep and experience some twisted version of it all over again.
Day two she woke and looked horrid, her face was pale and her eyes were sunken. Her hair matted against her back, a mess of curls that had no order from her lack of taking care of it properly after her shower. She found herself back in the shower letting the spray hit her with a punishing heat this time. Her skin turned from pale to an ugly shade of pink into a blistering red, she really liked the shade of red. It eased her after seeing pink again, calmed her and reminded herself her skin was clean even if her mind was not.
She took care of her hair when she left the shower, applying the products and drying it with a soft towel. She dressed in a long sleeve shirt and jeans again, not wanting her skin to show. The balcony of her room was on the first floor and she was able to easily climb over the stone railing and land on the grass beneath it. She noticed a guard watching her but said nothing as she headed to the shore line.
It was not as if she could escape anyway.
The island had no way for her to leave without permission and she had no idea how to drive nor steal a boat. So she hid away at the shore and skipped stones into the waves. She thought about swimming in it, her clothes were warm in the already heated sky and the water looked refreshing. The waves were slightly rough today, crashing against the beach and scattering sand and shells. If she just got past the break though it was smooth and she'd find solitude.
She took a step into the water, letting remnants of a wave wash over her bare feet. She looked back to the house where no one but the guard was seen, his eyes were still on her. He had a still face, no emotions seen but he did not look away for a moment. She took another few steps and the wave broke against her ankles, her body stumbled slightly from the impact but she did not falter. She took another step and forced her way through a wave, it soaked her jeans and relieved the heat that had been building on her skin.
She took another step and made out the sound of boots crunching behind her. The guard seemed to have finally become concerned enough to act. She didn't turn to face him, just took another step. That was when an arm reached out and wrapped around her elbow, the grip strong and the hand large. Large like Nicholas's, strong like Nicholas's, but it was not his soft skin. Her mind did not care though, there was a person touching her, a man touching her, she could not handle that.
She flailed out of his hold and crashed into the next wave, going under the salty water. She hadn't reacted fast enough and breathed in a mouth full as some went up her nose and burned. Her eyes shut and her body sunk as she tried to decide if she even wanted to raise herself. Fallon didn't get the choice in the end when arms wrapped around her midsection and yanked her from the water.
She was coughing up the sea when she got dropped into the coarse sand. The guard took a step back as she began sobbing between coughs. SHe caught a glance of his face, he didn't look so emotionless now. He looked utterly terrified as he took her in and looked back towards the house. She imagined he was worried of what others might think when they see the mess she has become.
Her coughing died but the sobs continued as he just starred, he didn't say a word or attempt to touch her again. She stayed there for a long while, covered in sand and ocean water. Her eyes and mouth burned from the salt but she took no notice, her mind still focused on the arms around her body, the feel of being trapped by a man, of having no control of where he grabbed her or when he let go.
"Fallon." Edwards' smooth voice spoke from a distance away. The guards shuffled back even further as her brother hastily approached the two.
"What did you do to my sister?" She had never heard him use that tone with someone in her defense.
"Nothing sir, she was going into the ocean and it was unsafe so I went to stop her, when I touched her she reacted and fell into a wave and I pulled her out and got her to shore. Ever since she had been crying but I have done nothing other than my orders of keeping her alive and in sight." The only two things anyone ever did for her.
Alive because she was needed, she didn't have to be happy or content or even in good health. In sight to make sure she did nothing to ruin herself for the ones who possess her, her parents at first and now her soon to be husband. He couldn't have a tainted or dead wife before he got his heir.
A sound mixed between a gag and a scream left her.
"Fallon, we need to get you inside." He went to reach for her but she shuffled away, kicking up sand all around her. It got in her hair and under her clothes, she felt it on her lips and the sting when it hit her eyes a second before she squeezed them shut.
"Don't touch me!" She yelled. All she got in response was silence.
Neither man spoke as they took her in and things began to make sense to the two of them. She kept her eyes shut, not wanting to see what emotions they had expressed over their faces.
"You can go, I will take it from here." She heard the guard begin to walk away. "And if anyone hears of this, I will know who to blame." There was an unspoken threat in Edwards voice, another thing that had never been directed in protection of her before. The guard mumbled out a "yes sir" and continued on.
"Do you wish to stay out here or go to your room?"
She wished to not be here, wished to be anywhere else in the world but where NIcholas resided, wished that what she wished for mattered to anyone other than herself.
"Room."
"Could I help you or would you like to walk on your own?" She opened her eyes and saw the still look on her brother's face, if he had expressed any emotions over her outburst he had controlled them in the time it took for her to finally face the sight of life again. She was glad she was met with nothing but passiveness.
She stood on her own and did nothing to remove the sand that now coated her. He followed beside her and said nothing, not even when she reached the balcony of her room instead of entering from a door of any sorts. He did nothing as she struggled to lift herself over the railing, it was much easier to leave than to return. She slumped onto the balcony and went to enter her room, her doors were still opened as she left them.
"We will leave tonight, I will let your maids know to pack your things." She didn't glance back at him, just nodded and shut the door softly behind her.