Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 41 - Chapitre 50

LEILA ..I put back together my necklace frame, piecing the little silver bits back into place, the metal cool against my fingers.It was a necklace I had gotten from my mom a long time ago, this simple thing, but it held a picture of both of us inside, a faded photo from a day that felt like another lifetime.I remembered that day, one of the few times she’d taken us on a real outing, not some sketchy back alley meet-up and we had taken a road trip of sorts, knowing I wanted to visit the castle, or elk somewhere we once called castle which was really just a children’s playground shaped like a fortress, you know? Not a real castle, obviously, but to a kid, it felt like one.I had gone with the brothers and she was with us, a rare day where all of us were together and somewhat relaxed.They had this crazy little act of picking on me, shoving me playfully, stealing my hat, the usual older brother bullshit, but I loved it.It felt normal, felt like family, something I didn’t get much

LEILA .. The sound of the shattering phone hitting the wall wasn't just glass breaking, it felt like my own goddamn heart exploding right there in the sterile, way-too-fancy room.Bits of screen and plastic rained down, little sharp reminders of the shit I’d just heard, the betrayal hitting me like a physical blow even though the words had landed a minute ago.Finally, finally, the rage had a goddamn outlet.Not that throwing a phone fixed anything, but watching it splinter gave a weird kind of release, a physical manifestation of the absolute mess inside my chest.That phone, useless on the floor now, was just like me broken, worthless in this moment, but unlike the phone, I wasn’t staying down.She’d come over, a look of utter confusion etched on her face. "That doesn't even make sense," she'd mumbled, her voice barely a whisper against the sudden silence that followed my outburst.I’d walked over to the bed after picking up the phone, the urge to just rip off all my clothes

LEILA .. The clinking of silverware and the low hum of conversation that had filled the massive dining hall began to shift, morphing into something else entirely as the last bits of food were cleared away."I think we will have a dance after this, from what I'm seeing," she muttered, while I watched the subtle changes in the atmosphere, the way people were loosening up, their eyes sparkling with anticipation for whatever came next.Throughout dinner, everyone had eaten and drunk to their fill, listening to speeches that felt like nails on a chalkboard to me.Speeches talking about the glorious end of the "Elvares," whom they had supposedly "slain," and how everything now belonged to them.Praises for Damien, delivered with sickening reverence.He didn’t seem fazed by most of it, just sat there accepting the adulation, stealing glances at me at every goddamn opportunity, his eyes promising things I both dreaded and, in my fucked-up state, was morbidly curious about.And then, ju

LEILA .. Three goddamn days had crawled by since the fucked-up dinner party.Three days since Damien’s mouth had been on mine, since his eyes had held that mix of pain and command, two days since the broken phone had been sent back, practically a new one. Three days since Misa had thrown up all over my new dress, effectively ending any lingering fantasy of elegance from that night, and three days since Damien himself had been avoiding me like the plague.That.That said it all.He did kill her.That was the only goddamn thing this avoidance could mean and at my end I was still rationalizing, still grooming Gerald to ask him directly because, yeah, a day to today, I had tried speaking to him.It was when they’d called everyone in for breakfast, which ended up getting canceled for some reason, but I'd seen him then, tried to catch his eye. He seemed to be coming closer these days, less like a distant guard and more like something else.I'd also been moving out of the room more

LEILA .. He walked into the room, his gaze sweeping over the scene, the rumpled bed, the scattered pillows, the slightly chaotic remnants of our earlier playful moment before settling, just for a second, on my hair, still wrapped in rollers and steaming, then he pretended like all of that, the mess, the general air of well, us, didn’t really matter, his expression carefully neutral."I guess Damien isn't back yet," I said, breaking the slight tension, "or maybe he just doesn't want to come out." It felt weird, with Gerald being in my room while Damien was potentially just down the hall, or somewhere which I didn’t care to know.Misa was still inside the bathroom, the sound of running water and scrubbing a clear indicator she was washing the color out of her hair.I could hear her, and then, through the crack in the door, I saw her peeping out, throwing little kisses at me that made me want to laugh despite the seriousness of the situation.I knew what she meant.It was about the