Page 65 of Scent of Desire
“You think it makes you big in the eye of God to beat a child?” The boy was certainly educated in the way he spoke and stood like a regal prince. “You’ll not last one day in hell.”
“Get him out!” Mother Anne screamed like the Queen of Hearts inAlice in Wonderland.
The men were getting closer to us, accompanied by the director, who had a ruthless walk and a terrifying half-smile. He was the effigy of power.
“Run!” I screamed to my angel. “Please, don’t let them punish you!”
My guardian angel looked slightly to his side, showing me his profile hidden by his raven-dark hair that fell on his forehead. “No one can take your soul away from you.You have to remember that. No matter how much they try.”
I nodded, my tears falling. His hand seized mine, and he gave me back my crushed aconite with a hint of a smile.
“Wait! What’s your name?” I asked, but it was too late.
He gave himself voluntarily to the guards without fighting back. Even though the boy was imposing, he wasn’t a man yet. Probably more of a teenager. The men grabbed him, and my guardian angel murmured something to the evil Mother Anne. The way her face twitched in response showed it wasn’t a good omen for her. Then, they led him to the director as if he was a criminal.
“No, no! Don’t do anything to him! He did nothing wrong!” I struggled to reach him with the sisters holding my arms, preventing me from joining my angel. I fought them, screaming like a crazy girl.
The cruel Vincent whispered something in his ear with hellish eyes, a tight grip on his arm. What was my angel going to suffer? Who was he? Probably a misunderstood outsider, just like me.
The boy looked back at me for the first time.
He was beautiful.
So beautiful to the point he made my heart stop.
His eyes were black with a touch of purple like a calla lily. He smirked in a dangerous and tormented way, as if he was untouched by the world. As if all the flames couldn’t burn him.
The connection of our gazes gave me enough confidence to smile back, feeling empowered by his courage.No one can take my soul away.And just like that, we shared a secret. A silent agreement between us that no one could take away from us.
I mouthed the wordsthank you, locking the aconite deeper in my palms, under the stare of all the vultures who had watched this scene.
And I promised myself, the reign of Mother Anne would fall.
“Don’t leave…” I murmured and felt my head spinning and my view blurring.
The last thing I saw was my angel disappearing in the shadows.
I fell on the grass and blacked out, burying that memory deep in my mind. So deep, I thought it was all a dream.
Since that day, I had never seen him ever again.
Or so I thought.
Present
“It’s been almost eight years since the Institute for Young Ladies burned down,” I narrated to Hugo a chapter of my nightmares.
We stepped outside, the golden light dying away on the walls of Ravencliff Manor. The blizzard that had crept up in the forest was slowly fading. The solemn duskiness had found its peace; even the ghosts of the nearby graveyards were mute.
“It was some months after the director Vincent died,” I continued my tale. “That fire… I remembered the flames rising like hell. The cries. The deaths. I escaped through the long corridors barefoot in my nightgown that night. I witnessed the doors shake and the people trapped inside their rooms screaming in horror. They were locked up without being able to get out. Nobody could save them—we didn’t have enough time. Once outside, I saw some of the desperate ones jumping through their windows. It was suicidal. The whole thing was chaotic. Inhuman.”
I had suppressed all the macabre memories of this place, but now everything came back to me like a whirlwind that ravaged me. My footsteps on the grass felt as if I was stepping on skeletons, and the pouring sunset had reddened with all the blood spread that night.
“How many survived?” Hugo finally said, coming out of his silence after learning the truth about my guardian angel.
“Me and some girls. Most of the sisters didn’t make it.” A pricking sensation shot up my spine. “We survived because our doors weren’t locked. It was as if it was done on purpose.”
“You think Radcliff did that?”
