Burning Castles | ✓

Chapter 24 - Skin

*smut warning at the later parts*

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∞ | Chapter 24 - Skin | ∞

Antro Tower, Carvensland

Adrastea stared out of the windows, noting how hard the waves were crashing against the rocks at the coast.

It had been three days. Three days since she had been kidnapped by her brother and tortured. Three days since she had cried like a fool in Rhydderch's arms. Three days since Edmond died.

To be frank, she felt nothing when she remembered a hazy memory of seeing her brother's motionless body on the ground.

Was it bad to be glad that your own sibling was dead?

She didn't think so.

But she had hated him. There was no way she would forgive Edmond when he belittled her every chance he got, or when he left her to die during the siege of the Sage Cliffs and not to mention the glaringly obvious part where he kidnapped her for the enemy and stood by while she got tortured.

The very thought of that day made her flinch and she couldn't help but look down at her arms to see the thin ugly cuts on her forearms. She closed her eyes and visibly shuddered. Despite them healing rather quickly due to many folk and traditional treatments, she knew they were going to scar.

It would be a constant reminder of how her brother had betrayed her for what? Prestige and power? She had gone through enough to know that they were ever-changing and fickle.

Besides, only those who were brilliant and influential managed to possess those. Someone like Rhydderch. Edmond was way too stupid and impulsive to keep those anyway, she thought cruelly.

She remembered the day when she realised that Edmond had been alive all along. It had given her a sense of security to know that she wasn't alone anymore. That she had someone to depend on and trust in a world full of traitors and liars.

She had been a fool.

It was almost ironic that the person she had come to depend and trust were Rhydderch, her soulmate. Someone who she was initially distrustful of due to his too perfect smile and impassive blank features and impersonal manner.

Adrastea shook her head and closed her eyes.

She had been so blind to not see that Edmond hadn't really cared or bothered much about her. He hadn't really shown any concern towards her, nor had he made any effort to get to know her. In fact, she highly suspected that he was willing to connect with her due to her connection with Rhydderch.

And when that failed and led to a hallway full of closed doors, he had taken matters into his own hands. He had become a spy for Vlad and betrayed those who had taken him in and showed him what a second home was like.

Honestly, how had she been so blind to not see his true self? Maybe it was true that she was a hypocrite on a certain level. She had always prided on her ability to read people from the first few impressions she had gained. Wasn't that how she had deduced that Rhydderch was manipulative and scheming?

Maybe, she had chosen not to see Edmond's true colours. Maybe, it was her fault for choosing to close an eye where Edmond was concerned and maybe, she could have prevented it all.

Adrastea moved away from the window and sunk onto the settee in the room and her eyes landed on her hands. Her bone shattered free hands.

Rhydderch had arrived on time. How he had realised she was gone, she didn't know, yet. Well, it would take a complete fool to not realise Edmond's hand in things, but she was thankful nonetheless.