Page 37 of Silent Secrets

To the memories of last night in the library. To the place where I can ignore the pain that my father inflicts on my body and the pain of the knowledge that he hates me—to the place that allows me to survive.

“You disgust me,” my father’s words finally register and I realize that he’s finally done. I wonder how much time has passed, how much time I have until dinner.

“Don’t you dare embarrass me by being late.”

And then he’s gone, leaving me lying on the floor. I take a moment to take an inventory of my body, of where it hurts and if any of the injuries are serious. They’re not, for which I guess I should be grateful. At least the asshole knows to stop before he hurts me so badly that I won’t survive.

It seems that all of my injuries are to my torso, easy to hide so that I won’t embarrass him. It hurts to breathe and I think he might have broken a couple of my ribs, but it’s not like it’s the first time he’s done that. I wince as I try to sit up, falling back down at the pain and moaning.

“Kai? Fuck,” Caiden hisses, suddenly at my side. “I just saw the asshole leaving your room. Why didn’t you come and get me before you met him? He wouldn’t have hit you if I’d been here.”

I try to laugh, but end up gasping at the pain and holding onto my side. Shit, that fucking hurts. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to hide the pain at dinner, which will just piss my father off more.

“He might not have hit me now, but it would’ve been worse later—you know that.”

There are tears in Caiden’s eyes as he helps me to my feet. I wish that I could reach up and hold him, reassure him that everything’s going to be fine. But I can’t. My body won’t allow me to—and I don’t want to lie to him. It might be fine now, but we both know that a day will come when it won’t be. Eventually, his anger will be too much and he’ll go too far.

“How long do I have until dinner?”

“Long enough for me to look at the damage,” Caiden growls, not answering my question.

I roll my eyes but allow him to pull my shirt off, trying not to wince too badly. I know he won’t be able to make it through dinner without making sure that I’m fine—relatively speaking, of course. Because nothing about this, or me, is fine.

Caiden’s hands brush over my torso lightly to not hurt me any further. His fingers brush over the red spots, bruises already forming in the shape of my father’s fists. A tear streaks down his face as he finishes, his hand coming to land on the tattoo on my chest. It’s the only tattoo that I have, one that all four of us share. While not identical, they’re all similar. We’d gotten them just after we’d moved into our own place.

At the center of my tattoo is the symbol for my element: air. Surrounding it, smaller but no less important, are the symbols for the guys’ elements: fire for Caiden, water for Hunter, and earth for Marcos. There is more to the design, geometric shapes and lines, but it’s the symbols for the elements that are the most important.

Each of the guys’ tattoos has their own element in the center, with the rest surrounding it and the same geometric shapes and lines. It’s our way of showing our unity, of belonging. While we will one day run our own courts, we will do it together and better than our parents. It’s a reminder to each of us that we’re stronger together than apart.

Caiden leans his forehead against mine, taking a deep breath as his eyes close and his hand remains over my tattoo. I allow my eyes to fall shut for just a moment, soaking in some of his strength. There’s no way that I’d be able to make it through this damned dinner without him by my side, so I let us both have this moment together. I pull away long before I want to, but my father’s threat is still ringing in my head.

“Can you help me change? We can’t be late.”

Caiden looks like he wants to argue, but he snaps his mouth shut and nods. I know he hates this as much as I do, but what can we do? As long as my father is the duke, he holds all the power. It will do me no good to fight back. One day I won’t need to fear my father, but today isn’t that day.

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