Chapter X
The Monster
The moon glimmers in the sparkling midnight sky as we look up after spending another night together. Soon the sun will rise, and I will need to retreat into the darkest corners of the castle, seeking shelter until the safety of night falls once more.
The wind softly caresses Cassandra’s hair and her dress flutters behind her as she looks out over the horizon where broken towers pierce the foggy distance.
Her hands settle on a balustrade wreathed in black-green ivy that curls around like delicate lace, leading to gargoyles that rest on either end.
She looks like she is meant to rule me, this castle, and the world.
Anxiety feasts upon my bones because I want to ask her to stay. I need her to stay.
Below us, the thick mist resembles a tempestuous ocean mercilessly swallowing the land. I’ve stood on this balcony before, and it always felt like the world ends here. With Cassandra, though, it feels like everything is just commencing.
She is my beginning, my path to salvation, my moon and stars, and the light to my everlasting darkness. I have never been more certain of anything in my life.
As she turns to face me, I cannot help but smile. I do not like smiling, for my teeth are sharp and my gums are blackened by disease, but Cassandra uncovers joy in me. Even the most mundane things she can turn to magic with just one touch.
Her hands grip mine as she stares up at me with large, dreamy eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Cassandra murmurs, clutching my hands. “I need to go home.”
Home.
Home is where that beast of a man is, where misery suffocates her every breath.
The pain that erupts in my chest is like a thousand stabbing knives, only they are blunted with rust, and they tear me apart brutally as they hack off my flesh. I have never felt anything so excruciating in my long, long life.
Is this what it feels like to die?
She wants to leave.
She wants to leave me.
Is it because I am not good enough for her?
All I can do is nod, because my heart is tearing, and all that is left is desolation.