Page 52 of Gothikana

‘I know a lot of things, little crow,’ he told her softly, his eyes glinting behind the glasses, holding so many secrets. ‘Now give me your story and I’ll show you what’s on this. I found it on the roof.’

Corvina looked at the paper held between his index and middle fingers, and then into his eyes as he waited for her story, and felt the pounding in her head ratchet up.

He knew.

He knew.

She didn’t know how, but he knew about her.

She put a hand on her forehead to calm down, her heart galloping like an injured horse running for his life. A bead of sweat formed on her neck, dropping down in the scoop of her sweater in a journey that chilled her. Her breathing got choppy, blackness creeping around the edges of her vision.

All of it came crashing down on her — years spent with her mother who was lost in her head most of the time, living her life alone with no kith or kin, coming to this new place, the voices, the shadows.

Scene after scene.

Kids telling her she was a freak, townspeople turning away when they saw her, her mother looking at her with blank eyes.

Moment after moment.

Troy, the boy who teased her, jumping off the roof; his voice in her head after, never to be heard again.

Visual after visual.

Seeing the castle for the first time, feeling the hope that everything would be better. Seeing him play that night. A first kiss in the dark, a first time in the rain.

And heknew.

He would think she was a damaged freak. And she would be left alone all over again, someone else she got attached to, without even realising cutting her off for the way she was.

It all became too much.

The black began to consume.

A whimper left her.

Suddenly, she was flat on her back, looking up at the beams on the ceiling for a split second before silver eyes appeared in her vision, looking down at her fiercely. A large hand splayed between her breasts, right over where her heart thundered in her chest. He held her down, his other hand straight by her side.

‘Calm the fuck down,’ Vad commanded in that deep voice, putting pressure on her chest. ‘Corvina, give me those eyes. Take a deep breath.’

Corvina complied, taking in greedy gulps of air, her head splitting open with pain.

The pressure of his hand left her before he moved, picking up her body and moving it higher up the bed so her head rested on his pillow. His hand came to her chest, strong and warm and so there, the heaviness in her chest decreasing slightly.

Taking a seat by her hip, he pushed her hair back from her face with his other hand, tracing the curve of her jaw, his thumb caressing her nose piercing. It felt good, so good she wanted to disappear in his bed and never come out.

A bottle of water appeared in her line of vision as he made her take small sips, before letting her fall on the pillow again, resuming his soft caresses, gentling her in a way she’d never been taken care of before.

‘Forcing you to have this conversation right now was a mistake,’ he said, his fingers stroking the side of her face lightly. ‘You’re not ready.’

‘You already know,’ she whispered, keeping her eyes on his neck.

‘Just the facts,’ he told her. ‘I want your story. But later.’

‘How do you know?’ She gulped in a lungful of air. ‘It’s confidential information.’

His thumb caressed her cheek. ‘I have my ways.’

So cryptic.