48. Florence
FLORENCE
It was clear the people of The Circle did not trust us. Despite my brother’s reassurance, I knew that he was the only reason I did not eat alone. No matter how often I tried, I couldn’t get Erin and Jodie alone, I was never given the option to explain. Joy had forgiven me, hadn’t she? Why wouldn’t the sisters too? I knew Joy had told them my story, she had told me they understood, but weathering Erin’s untrusting stare across the breakfast table suggested the opposite.
I missed Joy. More than I ever had before. Now that I knew she forgave me, it was harder to be away from her. Our hungry kiss played on repeat in my head and I wondered if she thought about it too.
My tongue sweeping through her mouth softly. A small moan sounding in the bottom of throat.
I swallowed, crossing one leg over the other.
Jameson and Rafael laughed loudly next to me; I ate a spoonful of porridge.
“We need to meet Lucille, she wants us to begin training with the other Circle members,” Raf announced to our table, noticing Erin’s and Jodie’s full breakfast plates, he nodded.
“Come when you’re finished.” He turned to me, winked, and kissed my forehead. Jameson stood ahead of him, smiling, waiting for him to catch up so they could walk together.
He had given me the chance to talk to them, to clear the air.
“We’ll come with you,” Erin stated, Jodie rolled her eyes.
“Sit down, Erin,” Jodie said sternly. “For Goddess sake.”
My eyes widened at the bite in her voice.
“Florence.” She turned to me, and my heart hammered against my chest. “You hurt us when you left.” She kept her voice steady. “We trusted you, we loved you.” Her voice remained strong, never breaking. The unfeeling mask I had almost been taught to wear threatened to rise.
But I stopped, I wanted to feel this.
I had never had sisters, I had never had a female role model, never mind one that loved me.
“I know,” I coughed away the cobwebs in my throat. “I’m sorry, I truly believed I did not have any other choice. I didn’t know my mother was capable of all that she has done,” I said, although it was a lie, I always knew she was a monster, I was just too scared to admit it.
“Nothing I can say will truly make up for it but, I’m sorry.” I reached for their hands and they clung onto me. “It was the biggest mistake of my life, to leave people whom I love and who loved me.” I smiled.
“Love,” Erin corrected. “Present tense. We still love you.” She smiled through shining eyes. I gripped their hands tighter, unused to the warmth provided by forgiveness. We finished our breakfast in a content silence. My food suddenly tasted better.
By the time we joined Rafael and Jameson in the main cavern, the three of us had eaten and shared stories of our time apart.
The main space, from which tunnels wormed off into different rooms, such as the dining hall we had just left, was bursting with life. The same training ring I had seen when I entered The Circle now teemed with life. This time Rafael and Jameson were involved. The two of them fighting against strangers with wooden staffs.
“You must be the others from above?” a women stated, walking across the pit toward us, fighting parting around her.
“She’s a MindWonderer,” Erin whispered to us.
“Well, how perceptive.” Lucille’s smile was sickly sweet. She looked at each of us in turn.
“Let me guess.” She pointed to us. “Erin, Jodie…” Her gaze narrowed on me. “And Florence, daughter of The Temple.”
“I’m glad you’re not holding it against me.” I smiled back, mirroring her honeyed gaze.
“Have you fought before?” she asked, ignoring me. Another person that distrusts me. We all nodded. She smiled widely.
“Josephine. Conrad. Ola,” she shouted without her gaze leaving mine. Three figures glided toward us.
“My best fighters.” Lucille smirked.
“For us? How kind,” Erin said deadpan. Lucille assigned us each a partner. Conrad stood behind me, surprisingly taller than me.
“Sorcerers?” I asked.
“Aren’t we all?” Lucille replied.
“Abilities?”
“Let’s keep it basic, just combat.”
“Weapons?” I spoke again, not leaving anything to chance.
Her eyebrows rose. “Let’s keep it friendly, no weapons.” I nodded, suddenly noticing that every head in the cavern had turned to us.
“You were raised in The Temple, weren’t you, Florence?” Lucille purred, I nodded.
“Why don’t you show everyone here how they teach fighting? Then we might gain the upper hand.”
She turned to Conrad and nodded.
Before I even had a second to react, stars exploded in my vision and pain lanced through my skull.