Irish Lullaby (Book One of A Violent Melody Duet)

Chapter Sixteen

She woke in familiar sheets and a new comforter, it was thicker than her other. She was glad for that because even with the extra warmth she felt cold, it seemed like she was always feeling cold recently. The room was silent, something she needed when memories of right before she blacked out came rushing in. She was back to that place as a little girl when her brothers would torment her for the smallest things and everyone would look on and do nothing.

"You're finally awake, I have been waiting for hours." She tensed at her brother's voice, she was stuck in a room alone with him.

She wondered where David was, he had to be near. SHe doubted he had gone to bed if he knew that Fallon was in here with Henry, or maybe he didn't know and he was peacefully sleeping next door while she tried to figure out if Henry was here to torment her some more or actually kill her this time around.

"Sorry for the ugliness at dinner, I hadn't expected you to actually pass out from it. The ordeal really put a hindrance into my time schedule, I had wanted to be in bed at this hour. Now though here I am at three in the morning still awake and much more agitated than I had been hours ago." She had been out for a while, who had carried her to her room? The idea any of her brothers cared enough to move her from the spot she had fallen was laughable, it had to have been David.

She still didn't speak, still didn't even sit up to look at him as he kept talking. He had always been good at that, he loved to monologue like he was a villain in a novel.

"When mother had come to me the night of our cousin's wake to tell me she had caught you in a compromising position with a man I was shocked, how could our sweet little sister do such a thing. You know the rules, know you are meant to stay pure for your husband. Tomas and I knew we needed to do something to cover ourselves in case you acted on those impulses and fucked the man so I suggested to mother to let Nicholas know he could get a taste of the goods before the wedding. We needed to make sure the only man who ruined you was the one to be your husband, he all too eagerly agreed." She was going to be sick.

"It seemed along with making sure you didn't ruin our business deal you needed to be reminded of your place." He got up from the chair and walked around her bed, bending down so once again they were face to face. He didn't grab her this time, just let her stare into his dead eyes. How anyone could love a monster like him confused her, she didn't even understand how their mother could.

"You do not own your body, you do not have the right to defile it with the hands of a man like Medevdev. The only reason you still breathe is because he didn't get far enough to take from you what belonged to another. We've known for years he hs wanted to use you to get to us but we had assumed her would do more then just trying to hate fuck our little sister, we apparentally gave him too much credit. Though it doesn't matter anymore, you won't be seeing him again till after you are married and bred. No chance he will want to touch you once you are growing another man's child. I had hoped it would take the first time, but your maids informed me it sadly hadn't. What a waste." He lightly patted her cheek, giving her one more glance before leaving her alone in the cold, dark room.

The moment she heard the click of the door she fought against the comforter and sheets to get them away from her and fell to the floor. Her breathing was coming out labored as she rushed into her bathroom and striped bare from the nightgown someone had dressed her in. She turned the shower faucet on to the highest setting and laid under the pelting spray.
She sat there, her body leaning against the warming stone, her arms wrapped around herself, and her mind lost in everything that had been said to her. How was she supposed to handle all this? How did they expect her to even be a good bargaining chip when at every turn they broke her more and more and more. She felt insane, insane for wanting, for hoping, for dreaming. Why did she still want to live, why did she have faith it would get better when everyday another reason why she should just give up was beaten into her?
When was it her turn for happiness? Was all she ever got to have of the emotion these small moments in time with a man, who like her brother suggested, could just be using her for revenge? They didn't know each other well and he had so many other options out there. She had no other options, no one but her fiance or a man who appeared sporadically throughout her life. Her options were slim but his, a man of his level and his looks, in no world would he choose the wingless bird she had become when he could find someone of beauty and power that hadn't been shattered to pieces just to be forced together over and over again.
It didn't even matter if what he was doing was because of feelings of care or feelings of vengeance, Henry was right, they wouldn't be seeing each other again until it was too late. It was too dangerous for them to meet anymore, with two of her brothers being aware of what happened between them. She really wouldn't see him again until she was wed and bred, what a lonely future she had to look forward to.
She had no idea how long she was in the shower, at some point she had fallen back asleep under the spray. When she woke her maid was standing outside the glass door and Ava was wrapping a towel around her body. She didn't speak as she helped Fallon to her feet. DIdn't speak as she watched the way her sister in law struggled under the stiffness of her cold and aching bones.
The water must have been freezing by the time it was finally turned off. At the sight of the sun barely peeking around the tall buildings she figured she had been in there for hours before someone came to check on her. The clock beside her bed read 07:50, almost four hours she spent in there and yet it still didn't feel like long enough.

"Go get her some tea." Ava told one of the maids who watched, she had a look of pity. She still hated the look but weirdly preferred it being directed at her then to someone else. She wondered how Heidi fared during the night, did he come back to her angry or pleased with himself?

David walked in through the opened door and took in her pitiful state. Ava hadn't tried to dress her yet, so she sat there wet and in only a towel. His face was blank but he didn't look away from her as if he needed to take in every detail.

"I don't want tea." She didn't want anything, the idea of even drinking water was making her nauseous. All the work she had done over her time here, all the progress of getting her to actually eat and drink things other than capped water and bagged chips, all of it gone.

Henry reminded her that nothing and no one can be trusted, reminding her someone is always watching and waiting. Her mind held onto that, even as her stomach protested, for something so weak it had a habit of being strong willed in a manner that always seemed to hurt her instead of help her.

Edward hovered at the door, a similar blank look on his face as he took in the room, his sister, and his wife who returned his gaze with anger. It was burning in those dark brown eyes, so deep so true she was afraid Ava's hair might become ablaze from the heat of it.

"Will you stay with her while I talk to my husband?" Ava asked David who nodded and took up residence in a chair by the door.

Ava turned to Fallon and brushed some of the wet strands behind her ear, it was such a gentle motherly touch. It was hard sometimes to remember Ava was only a few years older than her when she treated her so delicately, Garren would never doubt he was loved by her.

"I will be right back." Fallon just nodded and then lifted the blanket over her wet form, falling onto her side and letting everything fall away.

The door slammed behind Ava and their feet sounded heavy as they walked from her room. They hadn't gone far before they stopped and her voice, muffled but still clear enough to hear, began to rage. Ava was not staying silent like she had at the dinner, like she should have stayed the entire time Fallon's brothers were in their home.

What was that Edward? How could you let them treat her that way in our home? She is your bloody sister, do you not remember that?" Her accent came out stronger as she screamed at him.

She knew he responded but he did so in a tone she could not hear, it wasn't long till Ava responded again. "That is no excuse for watching the abuse she faced. You want me to stay docile in their company and I understand that but I expect you to be a fucking man and stand up to them for her. She is your blood just as they are or do you not remember that?"

Another moment of silence as he responds, and then a quieter response from Ava. "What if it were me being treated like that? What if one day, god forbid, our son treats our daughter in such a manner? Will you sit by because it is not your place to get in the middle of it? Because if it is not a direct threat against you, why should you care? Will I have to worry for my own children's safety alone, or will my husband finally find the decency to stand up for someone other than himself?"

More heavy steps are heard and the voices stop, they leave the floor most likely. Their conversation was leaving the topic of her and moving into one about their future together, that was something not to be discussed on a floor with so many ears to listen.

"I'm sorry." David speaks after the silence has set in.

She didn't have it in her to speak, to tell him he had nothing to be sorry for. He did his job and she expected nothing more of him, he was just a guard, just an employee for a man who hated her family, he couldn't risk his own safety or whatever his mission was for her. She wanted to tell him she understood and held no ill will towards him but all she could do was pull the blankets tighter around her and think on the words her brother spoke.

She only had a few more weeks till the wedding and then a lifetime of this to look forward to. The hope she had was dwindling and that scared her more than anything her brother had said.