Once Upon A [Stolen] Time - [Stolen] Series I

CHAPTER 14

EDWARD

MAY 1415

It had been a month since Veronica left this world.

In the Hues' reign, there was no room for tears. I was not given a chance to arrange a funeral, bid farewell or offer her eulogy. No words could define my feelings for my beloved sister, but she knew what I had gone through. In death, she took away my tears, my smiles, my heartbeats—everything that made me human. I was a monster now, lurking in the darkness—one who would not hesitate to kill anyone.

Her body was buried deep under our deserted black courtyard. It was unfortunate that my sister wished all her life to hold a flower in her hand, and her grave could not even have this blessing. Dry sand covered her grave—the sun never shone—nor did it rain. Her journey of death would be as hollow as her life had been.

I was not even allowed to bury her outside the cursed boundaries, but despite the month that had passed, I didn't have the courage to visit her grave, sit beside her or apologise.

I visited Emma the next day, but the child refused to see me. She'd exiled me entirely from her innocent childhood. Her pain from her irreparable loss was even worse than mine. I was the man who made her an orphan. I deserved her hatred and would spend the rest of my life burning in the hell Emma created for me.

After that day, I turned away from my niece and never returned to her aunt's house to bring her back. I didn't want to see those eyes again that accused me of killing her mother. She knew I took her mother's life. She had no one to look forward to seeing. Veronica and I were the people she loved most, and both of us were buried in Veronica's grave.

Yes, I died the day Veronica died and buried my heart underneath the black desert of our courtyard.

It didn't matter now.

Nothing mattered now.

There were only two hopes left for me after her death—my two lifelines to breathe. One was Emma, who cast me away with her loathing. The other hope that had burned in me after Veronica's death died the moment she said King David's name.

What was I hoping? That Veronica's death would end the curse and bring love into my life? I had killed my own sister and turned away from her daughter. I broke the vow I made the day she died. I promised to keep Emma with me and protect her, give her the love of the father she never had, but all I did was send food and money to her aunt's house every day to lessen the grief and guilt for taking away her mother. Deep inside, this beast was a coward who had no courage to confront a child.

I had now turned into a massive wall of stone, barricaded so high that no one would ever find any possible way to trespass. Day by day, King Stefan toughened me with his callous training, and day by day, I kept placing bricks around me to become unreachable. Nothing passed through me now; nothing burned in me now. My heart had been buried in my sister's grave, my soul left me that day and would now probably be rotting in purgatory. My body had become too numb to feel anything.

I had now come to terms with Stefan's way of dealing with people. He was right—it wouldn't hurt much if you just stopped hearing people's cries.

I had learned all possible ways of torture, but I had stopped punishing myself in return. Pain for pain—the reason I had once given my sister for why I tortured myself didn't exist for me now because I had stopped feeling their pain. Nothing touched my heart now.

Day by day, I strengthened myself by torturing men and never hearing their pleas. I was just like King Stefan now, ready to take his throne and become his proud heir. The only thing I still refrained from doing was torturing a woman. If there was a female prisoner kept in my tower, the only punishment I could give was to starve her for a few days and send her back to her home. I didn't touch any woman, never desired, or sought any kind of pleasure. The only woman that I had wanted my entire life, the woman who invaded my body with a mere touch, sending jolts through me, was apparently a beautiful witch trapped in Satan's mirror.