Page 4 of His Cursed Heart

Why would it affect me when I’ve been born without feelings?

“Where did your pretty head go now, piccolo uccellino?” Venus’s soft voice makes my eyes fix on her again.

Little bird. My nickname since I was a little girl with piggy tails. My father started to call me like that when I turned six years ago because while Keres, my sister, got everything, I had to earn the life I have right now and Papa always reminded me that I don’t have the wings that will make me escape this place.

And he is right. The only time I will leave this house is when he’ll marry me off to some creep or maybe when I’ll die. Which I hope is soon enough.

“Stop calling me that.” My best friend doesn’t even blink.

“You can talk to me when your heart is heavy.” She whispers, waiting for me to continue.

I inhale, trying not to let my voice tremble.

“You can come to me when your thoughts are loud.” I repeat my mother’s words.

“Your heart is safe here.”

“You are safe here.” We look at each other for a couple of seconds and then she embraces me in a hug.

I’m not a hugger, but Venus might be the only one who has been by my side since forever. Not even Keres.

Oh, my little spirit. I haven’t talked with her for three years. I needed to break my heart and distance myself from her to make sure she is safe. And I will do it again in a heartbeat if that means she will never know.

The spirit and the little bird.

“Miss Luciano?” A voice interrupts my hug with Venus. “Your father asked for you in the office.” A cool feeling takes over my body. One of my father’s guards is standing in the doorframe.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Venus knows that Hanibal will throw her out the next second, but this is the way she shows me that she has my back every damn time.

“I’ll be fine.” The lie is evident, but she nods anyway.

I cross the halls of the mansion until I arrive at the door of my father’s office. I knock lightly, and I wait for him to let me in.

“Come in, Althea.”

My father’s office is so luxurious that I think this only room is more expensive than the whole mansion. White walls, white shelves with golden books, a huge gold snake statue next to the leather couch.

My father is exactly like the creature he’s obsessing over. A snake.

“Sit down.” His voice comes from the couch. His long legs were on the coffee table, a cigar in one hand and a

glass of vodka in other. His blond hair has some gray in it, and it makes him look so exquisite. “I have bad news, Althea. Sit down.”

Did I hear his voice tremble?

I sit in the chair next to the couch and I wait for him to tell me the bad news. It’s rare to see Hanibal Luciano affected by a bad incident. Either we’re going to war, either someone is injured, and the only person that he cares so much for is Keres and Vincent. And Vincent is alright because is my main mission in this life.

“Your sister.” At that my blood starts to run faster in my veins, my darkest nightmares coming out.

If something happened to Keres, I’ll make this world bloody and lit it on fire. People might think I hate my sister because of my actions, but if someone touched her the wrong way, I will make them regret they ever thought of putting their hands on her.

“Spit it, damn it.” His lack of response makes my hands tremble.

I just know it and it almost kills me.

“She’s dead, isn’t she?” His blue eyes looked into my brown ones. The blue eyes who were soft just with Keres.

“Yes, she died three days ago.” He drinks the glass of vodka in one sip, my dead heart almost racing.

---