Page 43 of Twisted Kings

By the time I turned to walk back toward the house, I was so cold I could barely feel my face. I trudged along, almost bent double against the howling wind, lost in thought. It was only when I stumbled over a piece of weathered driftwood that I realized someone was heading toward me.

Kyril.

“You’re freezing, kotenok,” he grumbled when he reached me. “Why are you out here in this fucking awful weather?”

“I wanted some peace,” I muttered, but a sharp gust stole the words away. Not that Kyril cared about what I thought.

He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” I beat my fists against his back, but he barely reacted.

“No. I’m taking you back to the house.”

“Fucking asshole!” I yelled into the wind while he climbed back up the path toward the house. The stone steps were steep and treacherous in places, but for a big guy, he was as surefooted as a mountain goat. And just as obstinate.

Milo looked up from the kitchen table when we entered, his fingers pausing over the keys. The heat from the fireplace hit me hard after being outdoors for ages. My frozen extremities prickled painfully as the blood flow returned to my fingers, nose, and ears.

“Everything OK?” he asked curiously as Kyril dropped me onto the mat by the fire.

“No, everything isnotOK!” I hissed before unzipping my jacket and hanging it over a chair to drip-dry.

“She’s not looking after herself,” Kyril grumbled. “It’s colder than fucking Siberia out there and she’s been out there for hours!”

“Um, I think that’s her decision to make?” Milo hedged warily.

“Exactly!” I yanked my boots off and threw them at Kyril. They bounced off his stupidly wide chest, narrowly avoiding the hearth. “I’m an adult! If I want to get cold and wet, that’s my choice!”

“The tide is coming in! Did you even consider the fact the tide could have trapped you down there? No, of course you didn’t!”

The angry retort I was about to fire back at him died in my throat. “Tide?”

“Yes, Thea! The tide! Were you not listening the other day when Eden warned us not to get stuck on the beach at high tide?”

“Um... No?”

Milo sat back in his chair and frowned. “It’s important to pay attention to the tides, Thea. The water rises quickly and if you’re not close enough to the cliff path, it’s easy to get stuck on the rocks. On a day like this, you’d drown if that happened.”

“I’m an excellent swimmer,” I huffed, not happy about being lectured on something so basic. Had she really warned us about the tide? My brain said not, but also, I hadn’t exactly been paying attention to much of anything since we arrived, too caught up in my head.

“Not even Michael Phelps would last five minutes in the water - if the waves didn’t smash you into bits on the rocks, the rip tides would suck you out to sea.”

“Sounds awesome,” I muttered.

Kyril’s mutinous expression softened. “You need to take better care of yourself,” he implored.

“I can take care of myself just fine.” I didn’t need him or anyone.

He watched as I pulled off my saturated socks and threw them and my wet sweater in the laundry room. Despite the heat from the fire, a deep chill had sunk into my bones. Maybe soaking in a hot bath would help.

Neither Kyril nor Milo stopped me as I stomped off upstairs to my attic bedroom.

The steaming hot water turned my ice-cold skin bright red as I submerged my body. Eden had left me a selection of scented bath products, all from a high-end brand. I’d chosen a lavender-scented one that promised to ‘relax’ me. It seemed a big ask, given how fucked up my head was, but at least it smelled nice.

After a few moments, I lay back in the water and stared up at the skylight. High above, the gray sky darkened as night fell. Rain splattered on the glass, but here, it felt cozy and safe.

My hands rested on my belly as I tried not to imagine how it would feel to be pregnant. I was still a kid when Mama was pregnant with Verity, but I had a few faint memories of her swollen belly and how tired she was in the later stages.

Being pregnant would put me in immense danger. It would leave me defenseless, unable to protect myself from an attacker. Torrance would have no problem hauling me back to my father, and once he knew I was pregnant, he’d take my baby and do fuck knows what with it.

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