KAYLA.Immediately I stormed through the door, April rose to her feet and Rafael alongside Gerald and the rest of the guards were already waiting. She exchanged callous glances around the room as I clinched to the bar.“You wanted to see me?” Optimistic that she was finally ready to tell the truth, I asked but her eyes were dazing and restless. “Uhm, Rafael can you give us some room?” I whispered back at him and with just a commanding stare, he ordered everyone else besides Gerald out of the room. Even he took a step back to stand beside the door, leaving just a safe distance between April and I.Upon his departure, she heaved a deep sigh through her lips and her gaze appeared to be utterly broken.“I’m so sorry” Was the first thing she whispered. Her hair was a drenched mess, falling across her sweaty, bruised face and her hands were still bound by chains. It took a lot for me to see my sister that way because even with everything she’d done, I couldn’t still bring myself to hate he
KAYLA.For more than thirty minutes, I stood still in front of the door. Pacing around the corridor and each time I tried to raise my hands to knock, my stomach would twist into a knot, forcing me to draw back. The rest of the castle was darned with a creeping silence and with Ingrid and Carlos taking shelter in the cottage, we were the only ones left.Just Rafael and I, and the hundred feet tall castle.I could hear his foot against the ground each time he stood, and the fluttering of the pages. He was there, meters from me but still miles apart and it was then I gave up. The truth was with everything that had happened the last few days, the death of our baby, him totally acting like I didn’t exist and then showing up days later as well as Lucien, Rafael had barely had any chance to talk.We needed to talk, to confront everything and move on. I knew for a fact that I wanted to move on with him. I wanted nothing more than to put all of this behind us and so I couldn’t give up. I co
KAYLA. “Have you ever wanted to forget something so bad and just completely move on that you decide never to speak of it?” Rafael asked and whilst I looked to him, my brows arched. “Because you’re that desperate to leave it all behind…” He continued.“That was the reason I never told you about Juliet” My eyes widened, some sort of response to hearing her name. I shouldn’t be this fazed because it was me who asked him of her and between everything Lucien told me, I just wanted to know the truth, or perhaps from his perspective.“But you still could’ve” I whispered.“No, listen to me” He parted his lips to speak but I hushed him. “Far more than either of us are pleased to admit, she is somehow that played a huge part in your past. She’s such a huge part of your life and that’s what I want to know” I said.“I want to know you, I’m tired of spending so much time apart with these million thoughts racing through my head and if it ever came down to it, I’m not still sure I do” I reached out
CHRISTINA. The moon was out in the skies and the wind was in the trees.We’d walked all the way to the forest in search of Veronica, splitting into many groups of twos and threes. Unsurprisingly, I was Sebastien, trailing behind as he yelled out her name with a torchlight strapped to his head. “Veronica!”Even from a distance, you could hear almost everyone else call her name. My head kept swinging back and forth over my shoulders and my heart was a little bit uneasy. Deep, callous breathes escaped my lips and soon Sebastien strayed so far that he was difficult to catch up with.I stopped for a second, letting my arms fall to my knees to take a break. An exhale came heavy out of my lips and the next time I looked up, I was far from everyone else.“Shit” Realizing I had to catch up, I cussed.The next minute, I picked up my pace into a run, emerging through the trees in search of Sebastien instead when suddenly, my feet got caught in a branch entwined to the earth, bringing me harshl
KAYLA.“What exactly happened out there?” Pushing through the doors, the first person my eyes landed on was Gerald and he was laying almost unconscious across the clinic bed. Rafael was right beside him, a finger stroking his jaw and it didn’t take me a second to notice the tense air. “Oh my God what happened to him?”“He was shot” Christina found her way next to me before folding her arms. She was trying to hide her nervousness but her glassy eyes gave her away. “Shot?” I echoed in shock.“Has the search party been called off?” Rafael asked and it was Sebastien who stepped forward this time. “Everyone is back and the doors are closed per your order” He took a bow and this was usually Gerald’s line but seeing him across the bed, he was barely conscious.“Rafael what happened?” I urged and he pushed a hard lump down his throat. “It’s Veronica—Gerald thinks he saw her in a flash by of a second he was shot. “She was the one who pulled the trigger so that doesn’t just mean that she kne
KAYLA.In the dead of the night, I jerked from my bed, sweaty and gasping for breath. My vision was clouded and my entire premise, disoriented—I had just awoken from yet another nightmare.Reaching to my nightstand, I grasped the necklace in my hands before clicking it around my neck. Of course I knew that without wearing it, I’d once again be whisked the bad dream. I didn’t forget it, it was intentional.It’s what happens when you’re backed against the wall.I was between trying to feel something other these overwhelming emotions that stemmed from Lucien and trying to find out more so I’d be able to prevent it if it truly was the future. But neither had worked, not only was there not a new development but waking up, I felt just as miserable with everything that happened clinging to my memory like a troubled past. I knew it would take more than just sleeping it off but I’d give anything to feel a little better.By the next second, my face was palmed in my hands and though it was just
GERALD.I staggered out of bed that fateful day, taking a moment to heave a deep breath. Fateful, it sounded like a bespoke understatement. Today was a gruesome reminder of the accident that took Lydia’s life. Or as some people would call it—an anniversary.It had been nine years now, but somedays it feels like it was yesterday. It feels like I’d only started grieving and the hurt would hit more on those days. I could never see it as an anniversary because whilst everyone else was preparing for Christmas or the Mountain Ball, I was reminded of my need to mourn.But this year, it was different. It was also worse. “Can you do it?” Rafael stood at the door as I tried to stand amidst the bandage across my healing chest. He helped me up but asked again. “Are you sure you can oversee the execution?” He added.And her face was all I saw behind my eyes—April. It was today, her execution was today. I knew Rafael didn’t remember what today was and honestly I’d like to keep it that way. I could
RAFAEL.My hands clinched around the railings of the balcony as I looked over the castle gates. The winds that gushed into my face was fresh but cold. By this time every other year, winter would come and there would have been so much snow that it would hard to see any ground surface.But alas, that was the one of the many things that had changed around here. Heaving a deep breath, I had come to accept that Black Mountain isn’t what it used to be and this year would be our first time without a Mountain Ball. It should have been today but with everything that had happened, it wasn’t really feasible.Not that the decision was up to me since I was one leg in and another out with the whole Alpha title. There were still so many questions but there was no way we could have the ball knowing Veronica was out there.She had already hurt one of us which means she was still waiting somewhere, for perhaps the right time to strike. And it was so difficult knowing some part of me was to blame for th