The Coward Novels & Stories

“He was afraid of you. He was afraid of your power. He was afraid of your strength. He was afraid of what you were always meant to be. A king.” “He is a coward,” his grandfather said, his voice a cold, terrifying sound. “He is a coward who runs when things get difficult. He is a coward who will hide until he thinks the storm has passed. He will not hide for long. He is too arrogant. He is too proud. He will make a move. He will make a move, and when he does, we will be waiting. He thinks he can hide. He thinks he can run. But he can’t run from me. He can’t run from us. He’s a part of our business, our legacy, and we need to cut him out. We need to cut him out like a cancer.”

He continued, each word coming out of his mouth hitting me like a wrecking ball. “Day and night I’ve convinced myself that I could do it, that I could send you out of this house and not feel the least bit bothered about it but I can’t.” “It’s just a lie that I tell myself every single day because just before I could even get the chance to see you in the morning, I run away because I can’t show such weakness.” He smiled bitterly. “Forget being the most feared man in the country, I’m a coward, Maeve, nothing but a big fat coward, a ruthless fool that’s undeserving of anything good but then again, I look in your eyes for the tiniest moment and I’m convinced.”

"I need to know why I'm here. I need to know if you're truly just pathetic." He looks at me, then at the floor, then back at me. He takes a deep, shaky breath, and the words, once they start, spill out in a torrent of shame and self-loathing. "I’m a coward. I’ve always been a coward. I called you names because I was scared. I was scared of what I felt. I’m disgusting. I’m a hypocrite. I deserve every bit of this." My heart, which has been an engine of cold cruelty, almost falters. The words, said aloud, are far more devastating than I ever imagined.

] [He's literally the only wimp in the whole car. Travis held his phone up to his mouth and shouted into the live stream, "Everybody, type 'coward'! Let our boy here see what you guys think!" The word filled the screen, one after another, like a wall closing in one brick at a time. Curt threw his head back laughing. "See that? Thirty thousand people think you're a coward. Still gonna say you won't get out?" I glanced at them and repeated myself. "Yeah. I'm a coward. A total coward."

"Don't think that just because you're back, there's a place for you in this house." He tilted his chin so high it looked like it could pierce the ceiling. "You're nothing but a countryside bastard. Trash that doesn't belong on any stage. No matter how expensive the watch you wear, it won't cover up that stench of poverty on you!" I didn't dare speak. My fists clenched at my sides, then slowly loosened again. Damn it. My cowardice was acting up again. Seeing me like that only made him laugh harder. "I've lived this long, and no one's ever dared to go against me! Take a good look—this watch's fate is your fate!"

The Ghost-me finally speaks, her voice barely a whisper: "You all fought. I... I just let it happen. Watched it all burn from the shadows, did nothing, saved no one. I'm the coward who lived by being irrelevant." The words hang in the air like an indictment, and I see my own deepest fears reflected in her hollow eyes. The Coward-me is hyperventilating now, her hands shaking as she backs away from the group. "This is insane—we can't kill each other, we're all the same person! There has to be another way, there has to be—" But the Villain-me's laugh cuts her off like a blade. "Oh, sweet little terrified thing, still believing in h

Craig stopped me but I was still stubborn and no one seemed to hear. "Sir, tell me all your problems. Take them all out to make you feel better," Craig said calmly to me. "I'm a coward! I hate myself, Craig" I said emphatically and I couldn't stop crying. I saw Craig sigh and looked at me. He snatched the glass from me and knocked it over. “Sometimes we really get to the point where we become cowards to fight for the one we love,” Craig said. "I'm a coward, Craig. I'm not able to fight the woman I love. I lost her," I told her emotionally.

“You really want to know? Fine. You’re a coward, Dante. You’ve always been a coward. You talk a big game, but when it comes down to it, you don’t fight for what matters. You didn’t fight for Aria when you had the chance, and now you’re trying to control her like it’ll somehow make up for the fact that you’re too scared to make her yours.” My heart pounded in my chest, the words slamming into me with the force of a freight train. I felt like the ground was slipping out from under me, like I couldn’t breathe. Me? A coward? “Are you seriously calling me a coward?” My voice came out sharper than I intended, a growl rising from deep within my chest. “Me? The Alpha? Your Alpha?!!”

“I… I ran…” Grace clutched my hand. “Tell us what happened.” The warrior shut his eyes for a moment, face pinching with anguish before he smoothed it over and composed himself. Looking between us, he whispered, “There were too many… They had so many horrible weapons… I’m a coward.” “Just tell us!” I spat out, perhaps more harshly than I intended. The crowd around us was silent, waiting. We all knew that sort of answer the warrior was holding onto.

“If you loved me, you would have fought for me before I ran.” He closed his eyes as if the room had gone too bright. Her hand slid away. When his lids lifted again, the silver there had gone soft at the center, like metal gone hot. “I was a coward,” he said simply. “Not on the battlefield. In my own house. In my own skin.” His mouth twisted into something that was not a smile. “I know what I am when I bare my teeth. I didn’t know what I was when I lowered them.”