Fabián
“R un away with me, Ofelia .”
Maybe the words had been born from desperation, but I’d been contemplating them for days, and nothing had ever felt more right.
Being a Raven Brother had been my whole life, but so long as my father was at the helm, I–we–would suffer. Her father wouldn’t let her love me, let alone be with me. If we stayed here, we were doomed. I was willing to give up everything I’d ever known for her.
“Run away? Where?” She sniffled.
“Far away, out of our fathers’ reach.”
I waited with bated breath, unsure of what she’d say. I knew she loved dance and hated giving it up, but we could find her a different dance academy away from everything here. We could start over and more importantly, be together.
I tried to convey that with my gaze, pouring everything I felt in the moment into her. Her entire body shuddered, but when she looked at me, there was steely determination in her eyes.
“Yes,” she said. “Let’s do it.”
Relief was immediate. I truly hadn’t known what she’d say and had prepared a whole slew of arguments and counterarguments to assuage her fears, but she was saying yes with nothing but my word and a promise of safety.
I fucking loved this woman.
I kissed her. Hard.
“But after the recital,” she said, pulling away. “I have to see it through.”
I’d never deny her that. “Yes. Right after you take your bow, we can leave this place forever.”
And never fucking look back.
The truth was, being here had been a prison for so long, I’d felt myself losing my sanity slowly every fucking day. But the day my father threatened Ofelia was the day I knew we couldn’t stay. He would make good on that threat. He would find someone to hurt her if only to get to her father in whatever stupid fucking war they waged against one another.
We would have been caught in the crossfire, and I wouldn’t live in a world where she was hurt because of me. A part of me knew that maybe none of this would have happened if she hadn’t met and gotten involved with me. However, this was bigger than either of us, a conflict that had waged back for years. If she hadn’t met me, my father would have still found a way to use her against her own family.
Tragedy was inevitable, and it was like she’d always known that. Maybe that’s why she didn’t put up a fight. That was why she let me take the reins as we began quietly plotting our escape in whispers.
By the time we’d hashed everything out, I was riding an eager high. I gave her one last kiss, assuring her the scum on the ground wouldn’t tell anyone about my involvement tonight, and I watched as she walked back into the gala, and then I myself faded into the curtains of darkness.