Page 23 of Madness Behind the Mask
I scream again as he’s flung to the ceiling and pinned there.
“Sau!” a man shouts, demanding my attention, and I turn my head to the left, seeing someone who looks like…
“Mr. Davenport?”I rasp, the words intelligible as they meet the air.
“Caden,” he murmurs as he walks towards me,his cold eyes softening,and my heart thunders louder with every stephe takes.
I press my back against the wall as close as I can, a small whimper escaping me as I bring up my knees. This can’t be Caden. He’s too old. Almost the same age as my father.
I shake my head,but my gaze doesn’t leave him. “You can’t…” I swallow, trying so hard to make the words sound right. “Be…”
He sits down slowly on the bed, his green eyes on me. They’re so familiar to my husband’s… Tears blur my eyes as I continue to shake my head. But he can’t be. Hecan’t.
“Dad?”
A man rushes into the room, and my gaze flies to him. He freezes as soon as our eyes meet, the tense mien of his face slackening into one of disbelief.
“Caden?” I squeak, scrambling off the bed towards him,finally realizing that Mr. Davenport didn’t call himself Caden but calledforhim. My feet hit the ground and take none of my weight, my legs collapsing in an instant.
The man lunges forward, opening his arms to catch me,but I’m frozen long before he reaches me, caughtbyhis telekinesis.
“Leave us, Leon,” the man behind me says.
“But –”
“Take him and find out who let him in here.”
The man on the ceiling is flung at the door, his screams turning into pleas of mercy that don’t reach my heart. I don’t care what happens to him. I just want to go to my husband...who for some reason has changed his name to Leon?
My mouth opens on a cry as I’m pulled back onto the bed. Caden/Leon leaves me, dragging my rapist behind him, hisknuckles white in a grip promising death.
“Sau…” the man behind me says, a tinge of familiarity in his voice. “My sweet, sweet Sau.”
I shudder at that phrase, my mind going back to my wedding just the other day. Caden said those four words as he cupped my cheek and kissed me.
“Sau, sweetheart,” he murmurs again as I’m set on the bed, the force of the telekinesis lifting from my limbs. He shifts in front of me, forcing my gaze off the door and onto his green eyes.
My mouth drops open further as I look into them, tears blurring my vision. “I don’t...under…”
“Shhh,” he says as he scoots further onto the bed and pulls me into his arms. A rough hand strokes my hairas his lips kiss the top of my head. He pulls my nightgown down my thighs, and my gaze drops to the movement, but I’m immediately distracted by the size of my chest.
Yesterday, my breasts were small triangular mounds, but now they’d overfill my palms if I had the strength to lift my hands to them. I don’t understand how they could have grown this fast overnight.
I don’t understand anything…
Clutching my fists into Mr. Davenport’s shirt, I shakeagainst him, finding comfort in his warmth.
“Sau, you’ve been asleep a long time,” he says,kissing my head. “After what...happened to you, you went into a self-induced coma.”
My mouth moves wordlesslybefore closing on a tight jaw. I shudder as I rub my cheek against him.
“The healers say you did it to save what remained of your fractured mind, giving you time to heal.”
My eyes land on my hand gripping his shirt, widening at the sight of it in one piece. The last time I saw it… The last time… I shake my head, closing my eyes. This can’t be real. This can’t be anything more than a dream.
A sob escapes me as his hand continues to stroke my hair.
“I’m so happy you’re finally awake,Sau. I tried to wake you, but all the healers said that forcing you out of it could damage you permanently,soI’ve waited so long…”
