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A Distraction Interrupted

Note: Rewritten but not triple checked for spelling and grammatical errors. If you see one feel free to comment

After having time for everthing to settle down, I realized just how numb I was. I had been supportive and tried to be as calm as possible until slowly all my feelings slipped away. It wasn't like I was apathetic or anything. If I really wanted to dwell on it, I could have. But just as I had been on the train, I was beyond emotionally exhausted.

So, silence welcomed us all, our forks pushing at food mindlessly rather than shoveling it into our mouths. Out of all of us, Dominik was the most attached. Without saying a single word, he sat there in a brood, not touching his food. He didn't even try to hide his distaste. His eyes would move from me, to Kana, back to me. We didn't feed into it, didn't give him the opening to explode.

I wanted to comfort him. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I could do it if I tried hard enough. But there was this hesitation in me that warned against getting him angry. If I played in and brought any of what had happened up, I had a feeling he would leave. He would go after them and make sure they didn't have to opportunity to come back and try any sort of threat against my life again. 

I didn't want their blood on my hands, nor did I want him to explode. Silence was the only answer I could think of that kept us all in this castle tonight.

"Letters." A man came in with a silver platter, a set of crisp white envelopes riding in on top. 

They each took one, different emotions filling their gazes. Kana, wide eyes and brimming with a sudden rush of energy, held the unopened envelop in her hands, peering slowly over to take in her brothers brood. I hadn't thought his mood could get any more somber, but I was proved wrong. He looked at her from under the lowest set of eyebrows. It was a dark look, warning her not to say a peep. And for a moment, he looked just like his father, nearly the same expression he wore in the painting hidden in the corner under a thick white cloth. 

"Oh," Kana stood, shaking the letter in her hand. "Just-"

"No." He cut her off like a knife slicing through butter. "Absolutely not."

She still held the thing out in her hand. It seemed to shine like brilliant gold, a shimmering light chasing its way into the dark trenches of the day. I wished it had held the same impact for Dominik but he only looked closer to the perilous ledge than before.

"Why?"

"With all that's happened, we don't need anymore drama." He spoke punitively, taking a stand.

"Nik, this is the perfect opportunity to put all of this behind us. Trust me!" Her gleaming gaze turned on me. "Rozalina, do you want to sit here and mope for the next couple days or do you want to go to a ball?"

When I didn't respond she shoved the letter at me, exploding in a rant about the food and the elegance. Apparently it was a yearly ball, put together to honor all the fashion icons around the world. Kana had her connections and with the endless pleading of a beautiful young women, she wouldn't have been denied an invitation. Though, she played it off like it had taken a tremendous effort.

I shouldn't have been worried about Dominik, not with this new development right around the corner. The one I should have been focusing on was Kana. She was by far more erratic. And now I feared what I hadn't before. I feared of being sucked into a ball. 

Going to an art show was one thing but an event meant to have a gathering that exceeded the number of seats available for silent hiding was out of the question. Or so I thought before looking into her sparkling eyes. I wasn't sure if it had been the exhaustion that made me give in or the hope that could be so easily crushed blooming behind her gaze. 

"Lets go." The words left my lips but hadn't sounded like me. More robotic than filled with reassurance, I saw the cloud that hung over Kana. So, I cleared my throat and said it again. "I want to go. It sounds like a good distraction."

Dominik gave me a long hard look, questioning whether he should break and give in or simple reject the idea entirely. But he didn't get the chance to say a single word before a booming voice took over the dinning room. It was more of a cry, desperate and stricken by an intense pain. We all looked at the door as he stumbled in, bloody and cloths torn from his milky skin. I could see the smudges of leaking injuries but there wasn't a wound in sight, just evidence there once was one.

I staggered to my feet at the sight of him, my chest lit with a fearful fire. Tumbling back into the seat behind me, I fell, my body going stiff. I could see his feet from beneath the table as he wobbled, a horrible attempt at making it into the room before someone could get their hands on him. He didn't get five steps in before there was a flood of people surrounding him, holding him back. I knelt, hunched over in hiding as he screamed into the room with all the sorrow of a grieving man.

"Where is Renee?" He pleaded, grabbing at all the people who latched onto him. "Where did you take my brother?"

My heart squeezed, my mind too numb to process what was happening. It was all a rush, happening with a few seconds. My eyes hadn't even caught Dominik standing, hadn't had enough time to see him hit Giovanni. But the man went slump against the fist thrown. And this time it was Kana who screamed.

I watched her rush to him, lifting his limp head as he was dumped into her arms. She looked up at her brother, tears staining her face and she spat at him hurtful words. Though, I couldn't hear them, there was this sinking in my stomach at the sight of them fight that made me feel sick. Nausea overtook me, my throat going tight over the rising of food shooting up my chest. 

When I threw up, my dinner a gushy mess on the floor, I only heard one thing.

"Get him out of here before I kill him."