Elven Legacy

Chapter 95

Matt

When he broke down and burst into tears, Tessa didn't say anything. He was grateful for it.

Control just slipped away from him and he sobbed like he'd never done before. For all he knew, maybe he really was going insane.

Five days now, they'd been inside this fucking crypt.

Juna had just left. Tessa was still in the black and red lingerie he'd made her wear. Matt had no idea how she even kept her shit together, at this point.

Matt cried because the door was shut before they could feel a whiff of fresh air. The crypt reeked of sex and it made his insides churn. Leery had left fresh food in jute bags just like always, but Matt had never been less hungry.

The torch's flame cast a yellow glow over things and Matt was so sick of it, this piece of shit torch. Why couldn't it ever stay the same fucking color?

His crying mutated into laughter, which he couldn't control any more than he had the sobbing. Laughing fits rattled him, obnoxiously stabbing the quiet of the old dusty crypt. Tessa was used to it by now, if he was to guess.

The two of them spent their days in very different ways. Tessa mostly slept. Maybe she was weak from not eating enough. Matt kept the place clean, for starters. They usually had extra rags and water buckets after Leery's daily visits. Those visits were how they kept track of days.

Matt exercised. Anything he could think of, he did with many repetitions to pass as much time as he could and leak some frustration out of his system. He also did swordplay drills with bones as makeshift practice swords.

He examined the engravings on the coffin lids even though he had no knowledge of the language. He spent some of his time trying over and over again to open the door even though he knew it was pointless.

But he suffered increasingly frequent breakdowns, roaming the crypt like a madman, kicking at random things, and wrecking his throat screaming for help at the door.

Sometimes he drank all the wine Leery brought, stood atop a coffin lid and sang Felleran songs as if the crypt was a tavern and Tessa a welcoming crowd.

For some reason, this particular night he must've looked crazier than usual because she interrupted his laughing fit to ask if he wanted to talk about it.

"Talk about what?" he snapped at her.

No reaction. She just kept drinking her water and huddling in her cloak. She was scary-thin. Leery brought fresh clothes for her every day. Sometimes she changed into them, other times she didn't.

"We already talked about everything," he said.

It was true. Never in his life had he imagined that he would share so many conversations with Tessa Nightvale of all people.

Their favorite topic was fantasizing about all the ways they could kill Juna.

Other than that, there was pretty much only one interest they had in common.

Tessa seemed genuinely fond of Jaden, he had to give her that much. She always wore this little smile whenever she talked about him. Like she was continually surprising even herself with this fondness. From the way she talked about his reign, she sounded actually proud of him.

For all he knew though, maybe it was just some dumb, blood-related, royal pride thing. Now that Tessa knew he was her brother and not just her half-brother, now she cared.

Matt would never like Tessa, or forgive her. Which was a problem, because they kind of needed to work together. And all they had to go on was Leery's cryptic message. Help me. What did that mean? How would that even work?