"I'm so very disappointed in you, darling." Why was he trembling so? He looked like a rodent when he did that. But she supposed she couldn't really blame him, as scared as he was of his father. And she did happen to be making that worse.
She had to turn away from Kade when his father's fist slammed into his gut, knocking him to the tile floor. Best she leave now, things would only get worse for the boy from here. Her heels clicked on the tiled surface, and she tried to focus on that sound, instead of a fist hitting a body behind her.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The stars would be a problem. Who had brought those back? It must have been the girl. That wouldn't do. No, it wouldn't do at all. The girl was like a fly, refusing to go somewhere else, constantly flitting around in her brain. This was all Agitha's fault! Agitha always had been horrible. So meek and simpering and bland. Of course she would stir up trouble. At least that one was gone now. Gone like a fly in a mind trap.
Trailing a hand along the wall, she descended the stairs
down
down
down.
She could feel precisely where the concrete grew cold, a bit slimy. That was where she considered the line to be. The line between her beautiful castle and this nasty dungeon. She snatched her hand away, focusing again on the clicking of her heels, the noise now echoing through the stone cells like a lovely song.
As she passed the first cell, she decided she wanted to play a game from her childhood. Ilia had always loved this game! She stood before the first occupied cell.
"Duck." A small girl cried within. She moved on to the next cell.
"Duck." A man with an angry face.
"Duck." Oh. That one might be dead.
"Duck." A beautiful young woman.
"Goose."
She paused, waiting for the young man to acknowledge her. He didn't, as usual. Maybe with some prodding.
"Darien, darling, it's time to join me for supper." He whirled, green eyes flashing with rage. That always did do the trick.
"My name isn't Darien." She didn't like it when he said that, not at all.
"Now, Darien, come along."
"My name is Bowen."
That name. That name sounded like a thousand bats screeching screeching screeching in her ears.
"You know I don't like this game, Darien. I like the other game but not this one." She tugged on him from where she stood, tugged on that small, simple fear of his.
"Fine," he said, his hands balling into fists at his side. She stepped to the side, allowing a guard to unlock the door to the cell. The young man stepped out into a small patch of moonlight shining through the only window, holding his hands out for the shackles the guard held. The boy's silver hair gleamed aggressively and she winced, turning her back on him. Again, that name that she pushed pushed pushed away threatened to eclipse the one she loved. Darien. His name was Darien.
"Come now," she said tersely, beginning the trek back toward her lovely castle. The clicking helped her to forget the things she didn't want to think about.
Click.
The name.
Click.
The stars.
Click.
The girl.
THE END
YOU ARE READING
Ever So Lightly- Book 1
Fantasy{COMPLETED} The stars disappeared seventeen years ago. A black night sky has mirrored a bleak existence for the people of Auros. The Gifted, humans with unique abilities to affect the world around them, have all but become extinct thanks to the dark...
