Page 91 of An Unexpected Ascension
“Well, you seem to piss me off to no end.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
Hermes inhales a deep breath, almost choking at the pain in his ribs.
“My father used to hit me when I was a boy. I didn’t like it of course,but I learned to live with it. Over time, my body just got used to the pain.”
“That...” I blow out a breath. “Sucks.”
He chuckles, the corners of his eyes crinkling with discomfort. Watching what I did to him to cause every movement to be a struggle makes me want to apologize, badly, but to do that would be to let go of this resentment I’m desperately clinging on to.
“Yeah, it wasn’t until after my sister...” He swallows his words as if he never meant to mention her. “It wasn’t until later, when I was older, stronger, wiser, that I finally fought back. Ended him easily.”
“You have a sister?”
I can hear his teeth grit together, like a rock scraping cement. The sound strikes a shiver down my spine.
“I did.”
“What was she like?”
His halt is abrupt causing me to ram into his chest as he spins on his heels to face me. Rough fingers wrap around my biceps in a threatening grip.
“I will not discuss my sister with you.” Any emotion other than rage is blinked away in those roiling navy eyes. “You of all fucking people.”
“Why?” I whisper.
Instead of answering, he tells me this. “I took every ounce of pain that was intended for her. I endured it all so that she may never know what it would be like to bleed, to cry, to hate the very blood that bore you so much you dreamt of their dying breath. All for nothing...
“That pain I grew up to know so well, it never reached my soul until the day I lost her. And feeling it fester inside of me; it was so much worse than the pain on my skin and in my bones.
“No, nothing is worse than the pain in your heart. That’s when I quickly learned that I liked bleeding and breaking, so long as it dulls that ache inside my soul. So long as it quiets the horror beating in mychest.” A tear slips from my lashes and his gaze grows even darker. “Don’t.”
“Hermes, I?—”
“I said don’t. I do not want your pity. I do not want anything from you.”
He snarls in disgust as he walks away and for a moment, I regret ever touching this man. I regret letting him worm his way under my skin because what I feel when I watch him walk away, it causes a fissure inside my chest. One that I didn’t allow but happens anyway.
Pinching my lips together to keep myself from letting another word slip, I follow after him. The silence between us is deafening as our boots kick up the dust from the dead terrain. We’re closing in on the barren forest, tree branches gnarly and twisted reach up toward the bloody skies, void of any greenery.
In the time I’ve been in Hell, I haven’t given myself the chance to mourn the loss of all that beauty. The children I will no longer get to guide and help grow with Sister Mary and Sister Agatha. To mourn my friendship with Jessie and Will. To miss the crazy ramblings of Sarah May or the pureness of Anthony Hampton I may not miss cranky old John Billings and his racial slurs and unwarranted complaints, but perhaps the sweeter side of him no one was lucky enough to see. The occasional job given by Sally. They’re all just gone now.
And with this silence between us, I feel I have no choice but to let it all barrel forth, bombarding me with dread. It doesn’t help that the Silva Timoris echoes with it. A gloom settles between the roots, spread along the decrepit path.
Darkness grows with each step along the trail as the naked branches tangle together, swallowing us down the throat of this unearthly grove. Shaded from the blazing red sun, shadows lurk behind every tree, twigs crack, and the wind whistles a haunting tune.
I grip the handles of both blades for comfort, ready to withdraw my weapon at any given moment.
“Have you ever been here before?” I ask, watching Hermes traverse with ease.
“No.”
“Then how are you so calm right now?”
“Because, for the most part, I’m the biggest monster in Hell.”
