Darling Belle

Fourteen

PEARL

The putrid scent of death pervaded the closet. After two days, Pearl had gotten used to her confine like she was just another bird subjected to a steel cage. Plates of arbitrary meals would slide underneath the door but she'd always somehow miss it, she'd always be asleep and wake to the smell of eggs rather than a physical sound.

It's mostly silent.

But sometimes, there's a cacophony of voices, only it's all in her head.

VALE

'No.'

Nereus and Noah glare at each-other. They can't agree on anything, they never have.

Noah's eyes narrow as he huffed out, 'I'm not asking you to kill her. Just leave her alone. Forget she exists. I'll talk to father and convince him to let you free, they wont drag you back to the asylum.' He ran one hand through his hair, stressed out with Nereus's blatant disobedience.

Nereus didn't hesitate when he said, 'no.' Again.

Noah didn't seem surprised by his response. 'You can't hide forever, they'll find you,' he warned, shoving one of his hands into his pocket.

Nereus rolled his eyes, moving forward slightly, dragging the chair with him, an unpleasant sound reverberating in the warehouse. 'You may be father's favorite but you're quite daft. Do you genuinely believe you have any pull over him?' He laughed, faux pity drawn on his face. 'You're his favorite because you're the most obedient. You don't make demands, he does, and you submit. That has always been your role.'

Noah turned his back on him, reaching down for a mirror from the bag he'd discarded earlier, their mothers, it was a tarnished shade of gold, with ornate carvings cut into it, amethyst jewels running along the base of its thin handle and further up but stopping just beneath the glass.

Noah moved dangerously close. And turned it to Nereus's face. 'Look at yourself, look what's she's done to you. You have to agree.' It's his last notion to reach between his ribs, to pull at his brothers heartstrings.

Nereus stared back at himself in the reflective material blankly, then slowly shifted his good eye to Noah whose expression visibly darkened.

'And look at me. Look at what she's done to me. Us.' The scar. The blind eye. All Maisie's doing, Noah insisted. They were destroying theirselves over her, why couldn't he understand that? Exchanging trauma for her serenity...

'I assume you'll blame her for what I'm about to do next,' is all Nereus said before ramming his head into the mirror, hard, pain shot through his temple, blood mixed with bits of glass, his head dripping with crimson as Noah had jumped back.

The crushed jewels scattered.

Kneeling to the floor, it dug into Noah's palms as he scrambled at every piece. As if with the right glue, he could piece it back together. He could fix this. He just had to collect all of it... He...

The ropes were off Nereus's hands before Noah can even blink-breathe-think on how to mediate the situation.

Nereus had broken his wrists during their conversation, tamping down the agony by thinking of Maisie in that crumbling house as he slipped his fingers out of his restraints then placed the bone back in place before swiping down and picking up a shard of glass and quickly running it through the rope that held his feet together.