Page 133 of Taken By Touch and Torment

Movement had my eyes refocusing. In front of me, a man in a bright magenta skirt and white blouse stood.

Belise met me on the ground, taking both my hands in his as his gold bracelets clinked together.

“She didn’t—she couldn’t hear me,” I said. My cheeks were wet, my voice racked with sobs. “She had no interest in the truth. She had no interest in truly knowing or understanding who I am. For seeing how she’d hurt me, admitting she’d been wrong. Her only desires were to preserve herself and continue to tear me down.”

“Hey, look at me,” Belise said softly, his magick sending calming signals to my overworked nervous system. “You aren’t ready to fully comprehend my next words, but let them absorb into your soul, anyway. They’ll be there, waiting for you, when you’re ready.”

I met his eyes, yearning to hear some wisdom that might heal all parts of me all at once. Something that would take this pain away for good. I didn’t want to feel this way anymore.

Like I was a plague, a deep pit of darkness that was destined to swallow everything and everyone I loved whole.

Belise took in a long breath, subconsciously guiding me to do the same. His warmth distracted me from my spiraling thoughts, my torn-open, primordial wound that wept and wept.

“You will never receive closure from other people. Closure is something that you give yourself.”

52

RUNE

“Something isn’t right,” I said to Sadie on her patio, overlooking Aristelle.

Scarlett was with Belise, and I feared what she would say once she’d processed Isabella’s cruel reveal. The witch had been right. It had only been a matter of time before someone told her. It could’ve easily been revealed in her correspondences with Kole and Brennan, though they’d been too consumed with themselves to cover other ground.

“It’s nagging at me too,” Sadie said.

“Scarlett is incredibly powerful. I don’t doubt that,” I said. “But in her blinding faith that she can smoothly stop this war before it begins, I worry she’s ignoring vulnerabilities. I find it strange that Brennan would risk anyone knowing their current tunnel system.” They would’ve already destroyed the tunnel we uncovered at Evangeline’s mansion and rerouted. “It’s too huge of a risk. I understand they underestimate Scarlett, but they shouldn’t be underestimating me.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Sadie agreed. “Scarlett thinks Brennan wants to save her himself to be a white knight, and to surprise Durian as a grand gesture to make up for losing her. But that’s not completely adding up. It would be easier and less risky to bring Durian in on her rescue, to simply order soldiers at the border to escort her through. I understand Brennan wants to keep Scarlett all to himself, to limit her contact with others, especially Durian. But…”

“There’s something we’re missing,” I finished.

“She won’t want to hear it,” Sadie said. “It’s not going to change her mind. Now that she knows Durian won’t stop killing mortals in her name, she will go to him. He needs to be eliminated for her to be free.”

“Just like after Scarlett was taken, I’m infuriated by my own limitations. I know that without kingdom involvement, we could win a war against the born. I know I could annihilate all of Hatham if I wanted to.”

Sadie sighed. “But it would only be kicking the can further down the road. You would radicalize survivors, lose kingdom support, and risk all of Valentin, including all of her innocents. You cannot base those kinds of decisions off this woman, no matter how special she is. She wouldn’t want you to.”

She smiled at me sadly, resting a hand on my shoulder as my whole body grew rigid and tight.

“I know,” I said bitterly. “In waging war, burning this whole world to the ground for her—I would only end up losing her for good.”

I’d once worried Scarlett’s life would be ruined by war from afar. That conflict might prevent her from traveling, from living without the fear that she may brush up against violence that had nothing to do with her.

I never could’ve imagined that she’d root herself right in the middle of it all.

But perhaps I should’ve, because that was so very Scarlett of her.

“We will prevail because we are not like them.” Sadie dropped her hand, looking out on the horizon as she sighed. “We don’t make irrational moves out of emotion. We don’t flex our power heedlessly, making us vulnerable to a guaranteed assassination. We do what’s right, for the greatest number of people, and we hope that the gods reward us for our effort.”

“I won’t lose her, Sadie,” I whispered. “I won’t risk the world, but I will risk myself for her. Always.”

“I know, Rune.”

I found Scarlett in the room of music, laying under the stars. She was wearing a navy blue gown, complete with a sweetheart neckline and silky fabric that accentuated her curves. She blended in with the cosmos, shining just as bright as any nebula.

The music she was listening to wasn’t sad nor happy. Contemplative, moving, a rich alto woman’s voice rising and falling with incredible, heart-stopping piano accompaniment. I’d set this recording aside for Scarlett, in a box of new acquisitions I knew she’d love.

She sat up when she saw me. Her face was puffy from crying, but her features were serene, as if she were at peace with it all.

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