Page 75 of A Blackened Bond

“What do you want to know?” She finally asks.

“Everything,” Ezra answers. “Let’s start with your favourite colour, favourite food, favourite sleeping position… Your birthday. When’s your birthday?” He stares over at me, his smile growing. “And what do you usually do for it?”

I nod. A simple but good question.

How the hell did I not know the day I had to celebrate and thank the Gods for bringing Red into it?!

A look I’d never seen before on Micai takes hold of her expression, a mix of sadness and conflict warring in her eyes.

“It’s the 30thof November…” She shakes her head. “It’s just another day, I don’t really celebrate it.”

The 30thof November…Wait, so we missed it! And what does she mean she doesn’t celebrate it—

“The 30th…” Ezra says, his brows pinched together with some thought before quickly widening. “The day we went to the Roller-Room?” His eyes widen further while turning toward Red, an almost panicked look taking over his expression.

My brows jump up into my hairline, and the slow, answering nod from Red leaves my mind spinning. That was her birthday?

And I only gave her a fucking chocolate muffin!

A soft smile stretches her cheeks, a warm look in her gaze as she turns to me and Ez. “It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a birthday.”

The look in her eyes tells me she means it…and a dark voice starts to whisper in the back of my head.

A day out in the local town playing around with a small chocolate muffin, and she was genuinelythishappy?

What the hell kind of birthdays did she have before?

I know my past is not the best example to use. I never had a real birthday with the crazy-demented shit-ball of a family I have.

Most of my brothers and I wouldn’t know where to start if going from our own experiences. But we could learn. I could do just about anything to make my Red happy and smile.

“Micai…that’s not—” Starts Ez, but she lifts her hand, cutting him off as she places it over his this time. Her soft blue eyes meet his worried gaze, a more serious look taking over her features.

“My birthday. The day I was born…was the day my mother died.” Her voice weakens as the words leave her lips, and I feel my black heart ache with the vulnerable look in her eyes.My beautiful Red.

“My mother and father were mates…” She continues, finding strength as Ezra’s hand wraps softly around hers. “That day is the day he lost her. How could we celebrate something like that?” Her voice cracks a little, and I can see so much pain in my beautiful Red’s face, even as she tries to hold herself strong in front of us. She was trying to open herself up and share another piece of herself with us. But this pain…

I wanted to rip it from her and consume it, burning it eternally with my own and never letting it see the light that is my Red again.

I get up, walking around to stand beside her, my hand falling to her shoulder as she continues.

“Itookher from him—”

“No baby—”

“No Red—”

Both Ez and I call simultaneously, leaning in closer toward her as a small tear pierces her heavy armour.

“But I killed her. I was the reason she died. If she hadn’t given birt—”

“Fuck no!” I bite out, anger twisting my voice. “Those words…never say shit like that again, Red! What would this shitty world be without you?” An endless pit breaks open in me with her gaze and the pain in her eyes as tiny droplets stream down her soft cheeks.

She genuinely believed that shit. She was carrying this burden all by herself and slowly drowning in it.

“Micai…” Ez calls, a sadness in my brother’s eyes as he watches our girl. “You mean everything to us. Your mother loved you, that’s why she chose to give birth to you. She loved you so much that risking her life for yours was something she didn’t even question. A mother’s love…” He takes a shaky breath as a tear falls down my brother’s cheek, unleashing some of the heavy pain he carries himself. “It’s boundless and unconditional…” He meets her gaze, showing her the truth of each word. “You were loved, Micai. By her. And by us.”

I nod. My brother has a better way with words than me.

---