Twenty
Twenty
HER
I’m vaguely aware of the rustle of someone in my room. The conversations. The touch of someone’s hands as they move me. But I saw Varius the last time I opened my eyes. I know I’m safe. The way he looked at me, the way he held me, squeezing my hands like he could never give me up… He won’t let anyone touch me. I can sleep for a little longer, get some much needed rest now that the pain in my belly –
I freeze.
The pain in my belly.
My belly...
Sucking in a sharp breath, I press a hand to my stomach, checking it over, trying to see if my baby is alive. If it’s even real.
Or, at least, that’s what I tried to do.
But my hand won’t move. Something is stopping it – a band cutting into my wrist. More smaller threads cutting into my fingers.
I open my eyes and find I’m sitting upright in my room, in my desk chair with my hands strapped to its arms – leather belts around my wrists, shoelaces around my fingers. Someone is in front of me, but my attention is on my belly, on the baby that’s supposedly inside. I lean down – try to, but a strong hand wraps around my throat and shoves me back, pinning me to the chair.
My eyes widen as panic starts to set in.
Because I’ve finally clocked who’s in front of me.
It’s Varius, but it also isn’t.
This isn’t the man I know.
The one I’ve fallen in love with.
The one who held my hands as I screamed, whose eyes whispered words of encouragement, of heartfelt pleas for me to be okay.
This man’s eyes are utterly blank. Empty. All emotion in them is gone.
And in his place is the monster that even monsters fear.
Varius.
Fucking.
Shadow.