MONICA.“No, you have to help.” I grab Anais’s arm and refuse to let her go even as she starts to struggle. “You promised me that you would help, and you won’t leave this place until you did something useful!”“Monica,” August tries to say to calm me down, but I wheel around on him angrily. He raises his hands in surrender, his eyes full of regret. “Look, we never wanted this. I did everything I can, and it just doesn’t work. Nothing works.”The despair in his tone makes me hesitate. Anais stops struggling against my grip even though my nails are starting to dig into her skin. Seeing eh damage I’m doing on her makes me come to my senses, and I finally let her go.“So nothing?” I murmur. “We can’t do anything? This is the end?”Even saying that feels like betrayal. I don’t want this to be the end.“It’s not,” August says after a moment of silence. “We haven’t given up, Monica. We’re just saying that right now, our options have gotten narrowed into nothing. We’re back at the very start.
MONICA.Saying that is a slash to my wrist. I hate it. I hate having to acknowledge that connection, even though I already had a strong suspicion when I first saw him in that portal.The grin that spreads on his face is enough to tell me that I got it right.He really is an Ancient like me. We are connected.I think back to my mother’s story before, about how the Ancients fell to infighting before the Wolves even thought about taking over and eradicating us once and for all. I already had a sneaking suspicion when he told me that the world I saw in the portal belonged to me, but now it’s confirmed.And I hate it.HIs smile widens. “Yes, that’s correct. Took you long enough, didn’t it?”I grit my teeth. “Let me go.”He just smiles softly. “Not until you see this.”With that, he turns around and disappears into the thick background of darkness. I wait for the light to come again, but it doesn’t. The pitch black stays there, and I keep fumbling around, still held back by the invisible ro
MONICA.I undo the straps binding Roman to my body. I didn't realize how heavy he is and how much strength it took me to carry him until he's finally off my back. Anais moves over to me and covers me up, and August stays back.He's standing at the bottom of the stairs, staring at us like he can't believe what he's seeing. And I don't blame him. It must be a weird sight seeing us pull up like this, especially when he probably doesn't have a clue that Roman has been out for a while now."I have so many questions and I don’t even know where to begin," he states, kneeling next to Roman and inspecting his face. "I want to start with this. Why is he out and how did he...."He trails off when he touches the side of Roman's neck. "What's going on?" Anais asks, approaching him. "Is he...."She also trails off and my heart jumps. I rush towards Roman and cup his face. His skin is burning. It almost doesn't feel like I'm touching a person. He almost feels like pottery fresh off the kiln, when
ROMAN.With that, my body collapses. The coldness is gone, replaced with a fever-like heat that lashes at my senses when the voice gives me back my control. I start to convulse, screaming in pain, my throat raw from the fire consuming me from within.I clamp my lips together despite the need to scream for help. I refuse to draw attention back to me. I refuse to have Monica turn back so I can have the opportunity to hurt her again.This voice inside me… it’s dangerous.“For some time I have allowed you to seize control,” it tells me menacingly as it cranks up the pain in my mind. “For weeks I tried to do this nicely. But you left me no choice.”“Who are you?” is all I can manage to ask. “What do you need from me? What do you need from my family?”“I want what was taken from me,” the voice says. “I want my birthright. I want the bride that was promised to me. I want the life I was always destined to have. I was forced into the shadows by your kind, but that’s over now. In fact, one of y
ROMAN.My whole body stops functioning for what feels like hours. I just stare at Anais, my heart crawling into my throat. The delusional part of me is hoping that she would just move on and ignore me, but of course she reaches for Monica who stops walking and follows her line of sight.The expression on Monica’s face will forever be burned into my mind.“Roman?” she splutters, shaking her head like she wants to get rid of a daze. I don’t know if she’s thinking this is some sort of joke or not. “What… what are you doing here?”She starts to walk towards me, but Anais holds her in place. “He tried to kill you. Don’t just walk to him!”Monica stops like she only just remembered.My heart sinks. I tried to kill her?I open my mouth to try to apologize, but how do I even say sorry about something I don’t remember? The voice in my head has gone completely quiet now, but I can still feel its presence in my mind.“I just….” Monica tries to say, but she just starts to trail off. “We need to….
ROMAN.I’m losing it.The conclusion tastes strong in my mouth. So strong that I just stare at myself in the mirror for a long time.There are so many moments where I remember nothing. The past couple of days is an example of that. No matter how hard I think and try to remember, I come up with nothing. No one has come to see me, which is something that I did ask for, but I really thought someone would try.All I can think about is Monica.“Your time in the bathroom is up, your Grace,” the guard outside the door says. “You’re not allowed to linger in there.”Yeah, I almost forgot about the guards watching my every move. I see them looking at me sometimes like I’m volatile. This particular guard is doing exactly that, staring at me like I’m going to go ape-shit any moment. I just head out into the bedroom area, sitting close the locked window.He still watches me.“You can go,” I tell him. “I’m not going to hurt myself just because my wife doesn’t visit me.”My words seem to shock him.