Shatter (The Daevas #1)

20 • The Great Andres

"P-put me down now, please."

We were standing by the entrance of the castle, the giant wooden front door facing and towering upon us.

"No." And with that one single word, Axel pushed the big door open with a thud, ignoring the two blue and gold liveried men who were standing by the door, ready to open it for us. I tried to struggle, only Axel held his grip tighter. I was kind of afraid of him right now, since I'd never seen him like this before. He was pissed. And I mean really pissed.

It was pretty embarrassing because I was being carried by a Van Allen brother. Not that it wasn't nice, but because the Van Allen who was carrying me to someplace in this castle was not in good terms with the other Van Allen, which was his brother. My head lay on his chest, since I had no choice. I couldn't hold my head up. I couldn't even move my limbs, for heaven's sake.

"Please, Axel. Just put me down."

"No."

"Why?" I asked. My eyes looked up, meeting his chin. I saw that his jaw was clipped. I blinked a few tears from my eyes. What was going to happen to Gabriel and him now?

"Because," Axel bit off, "I want to let them see how you feel. You won't be as you are if it wasn't for us, Venise."

If it wasn't for...

"I..." I whispered. "I...please...just put me down. Please."

He groaned. And then, unexpectedly, he did put me down. He breathed for a moment. I looked at him. "Axe..."

He raked a hand through his hair, pulling my wrist with force. He walked me into the hall, completely ignoring all the servants in their uniforms, and opened a giant door on the left. Our feet echoed through the castle, and stepped inside the large room with only two chairs and a gorgeous little wooden table. There were large, gothic windows facing us, but my admiration was cut short when Axel held my shoulders tightly and faced me to the left, where there were full of mirrors lined from the floor to the ninety-foot ceiling. Reflected in that mirror were two people; there was young man like a Greek god, beautiful in every way possible, but his face was scorched with sadness and agony. His brilliant turquoise eyes were a deep hue of the dark ocean, and the other...was a girl who was young in age, but looked as if she were the old ugly witch who has lost all mirth and beauty from all the troubles she has been through. Her bony face sagged and her shoulders slacked. And that old witch was none other than me, standing by the god Axel.

"Look at yourself," he whispered savagely. "This wouldn't have happened to you if it wasn't for us."

I realised that I was sobbing. "No..." I kept saying, shaking my head.

"Venise," Axel hissed. "It's true! If it wasn't for Alexander's evil; if it wasn't for Roman's hostility; if it wasn't for Gabriel's strange attitude...this would not have happened."

"Please!" I exclaimed. "Don't say that! It is not all your family's fault."

"If it's not us who's the reason, then it's Alexander's. He's family no more." His jaw tightened and his eyes were like shards of glass.

I buried my hands in my face, my eyes flooding with tears. My sobs were echoing inside the empty room. "I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know my life. If it wasn't for me, my family would have still been alive! I never should have left them there in that house. Greg was supposed to become a senior in college next month. My sister was supposed to be entering middle school. She wanted to be a doctor, Axe," I whispered. "She wanted to help people! My siblings had hopes and dreams. My parents wanted us to reach them. But what happened? They died. And it's all my fault."