Heartless | A Powerless Fanfiction Novella

Chapter 23: Corrine

"Damien you shouldn't be here," I whisper harshly, "What if Kai sees you?"

"Oh you mean the Enforcer?" He laughs menacingly, matching his volume to mine, "What are we on a first name basis with the enemy now? Let me guess, Kitt is currently missing you on the dance floor - I'm sure Miss Gray will take care of it nonetheless."

My teeth clench before I say anything I will regret, "Damien you dare to leave a measly little note and then come here without an invitation expecting me to play nice? We're not children anymore! This is not a game!"

"I could argue that..."

"Damien I found your letters, I know you've been doing this for a very long time. Betraying your family like that? Betraying me?"

"Plagues, you were never meant to see those! Corrine I never meant to hurt you I-"

"It doesn't matter what you meant to do! It's what you did!"

With my voice rising Damien looks hurriedly around us, realising two of the guards are now staring and urging me to move deeper into the corridor until we turn the corner. I hit his hand away from the small of my back, twisting to face him again. This time it seems as if he takes a moment before opening his mouth again, a small smile hinting at the anger we are both feeling right now, but this time directed at me.

"You wore it." He says looking down at my dress, "You look beautiful, Corr." A sadness pools in his eyes, the exact same shade as mine is now bordering itself with tears he doesn't allow to fall. "I'm sorry. I truly am. Corr please I don't want to lose you too." He takes one of my hands in his, his fingers tracing his black pendant I had wrapped around my wrist as a bracelet - I wasn't going to leave it behind, "You're all I have left. We have each other, don't let that go to waste." His tone falters, "Please."

I have never heard my brother's voice break. Never heard the crack now so evident it splinters something in my heart. The love I feel for him has never gone, it has only been suppressed after everything that happened because I couldn't handle it anymore living within me. For all the times I have mourned for him it all comes rushing back, but maybe that pain was not only for losing that version of him but also that version of myself. We are no longer the same as we were two years ago. 

One shaped by purpose, the other by survival.

"Damien you're not safe, you never have been." I feel the knot in my throat building up, "They will find you, they will hunt you down like you are one of them. If the Enforcer sees you, you're dead on sight."

Kai has a way of remembering the names and faces - it's a curse he's forced to live with - and I know for sure my brother has had a special place in the prince's mind since that day because of me.

"I'm not dead just yet." He remarks softly, "And everything will be made right soon."

Soon?

"What do you mean by that?"

Damien purses his lips, "I'm just going to need you to believe me. I don't know if I can say anything."

Before I get the chance to ask again, Lenny's voice comes from behind us, "Damien thank the Plagues I found you I-"

His gaze lands on me, eyes widening and looking between me and my brother. I have been standing close to the curtain, he must not have seen me.

"You two know each other?" And there is that rage rushing back, but this time too confusing to make sense with which I should direct it at more, "Lenny, you're part of this? You're with them?!"

"I uh, Corrine I can explain."

"You know what? I'm done being explained half-truths." I twist to my brother, my pointer finger pressing into his chest, "If you want your family, you need to earn it!"

As I turn my back on them to leave a gust of wind wraps itself around my wrist holding me in place. My brother's power. I feel my own thrum lightly in response, our childhood games of creating small storms to chase around the livingroom hitting me hard and when the grip loosens I know he remembers it too. But I don't face them again, I only keep walking.

"Damien, she's agreed to talk to Kitt Azer. We'll get what we need before that night and it will all be over." Lenny's whisper echoes off the walls, "It will all be over soon and then you can patch things up with Corrine again. Give her time." I hear a grunt from my brother and watch the window reflection in front of me as he snatches his wrist from Lenny. He wanted to follow me.

There goes that 'she' again. Plagues who is this woman so important to the Resistance that not even for the sake of family a brother would return. I walk back to the event not looking behind to see if Damien has left or not - not caring if he has, he can take care of himself it seems - and my eyes immediately land on that silver hair still spinning on the dancefloor. Ocean blue eyes fixated on the Enforcer holding her close to him, except for the moments when they slip somewhere behind her partner where I see Kitt talking idly with the guests.

'She agreed to talk with the prince'

And so it all comes together. Puzzle pieces finally falling in place, fitting so perfectly together I curse myself for not seeing it sooner.

A girl who placed herself perfectly between two halves of the crown - a woman with direct access to the heart of Ilya.

A Silver Saviour is no saviour without being tasked to save.

And Paedyn Gray lives up to her name.