Forgotten Monsters

Chapter 31- Shattered

Cain was distracted as he walked aimlessly down the hallway. Since he had broken free of The Queen’s sadistic grip, he was never sent on missions, never asked to join her at dinners. It was a fragile balance he hung in. He was no longer manipulated against his will, but he was not free. Without his heart, he never would be.

That day he was not thinking about his delicate position, he was thinking about something that made him feel light. Tessa. With her, he didn’t feel like he was being pulled in a million directions, he forgot all his responsibilities, who he was supposed to be, he just was. It was thrilling and utterly terrifying. He was smiling slightly to himself when he saw her. It wasn’t Tessa, although she had the same unassuming beauty. His blood froze in his veins as he saw her drift around a corner.

For years he had longed to feel her arms wrapped around him, telling him it would be alright, that everything was like it used to be. He had dreamed of her airy laughter, her sweet words of comfort. He had waited for the mother he would never see again. But she was tight here, in the castle. A small corner of Cain’s mind said that it had to be an illusion, a trick of the light, but the rest of him raced after her, turning the corner.

The hallway was empty but for a servant girl who hastily bowed and hurried away, terrified of the man she thought he was. For once this didn’t bother him; he was too busy frantically searching for where she had gone. An open door swung shut. Cain reached for it, slipping inside.

“Mother?” He asked as he entered. The room was a spare bedroom. A lavish bed and delicate tapestries decorated the room. The window stood open, the frigid wind chilling the air. The curtains blew away from it, snowflakes settling on the rug. Cain noticed none of this, just the figure standing at the window. The similarities with his aunt were startling. The same slender wrists, the flawless pale skin and silver hair that flowed past her shoulders the way she liked.

His mother turned to look at him, her pale eyes gazing at him softly. A faint smile touched her lips. And then she fell backwards, her white skirts fluttered in the wind as her son watched her tip out of the window.

“Mum!” The word was ripped from Cain’s throat, the word hoarse and torn. He lunged forward to the window sill, desperately looking down. Far below the courtyard was coated in snow, figures hurried around, going about their business. The city stretched for miles, but his mother was gone, disappearing into the winter cold.

Cain took a step back. She was gone again. She had left him again. The expression on her face, the peace as she flew out the window, he felt ill. In a sudden rage he slammed the window closed, in shut with a crack, but he felt no better. Sinking to his knees, he howled with grief. Never before had he let himself go, so he sobbed and he cried and he hurt.

When he was done he had the sudden need to see Tessa. He stood up, hastily wiped at his face and left the room. A maid stared at him as he passed, forgetting her place in her shock at seeing him so distraught. Racing down flights of stairs he reached the servant’s quarters. It was then that he realized he had no clue where she lived. A young girl who must have been about eleven curtsied, her eyes wide as she recognized him.

He grabbed her arm, frightening her. He let go. “Where is Tessa?” HE asked, hurrying to add, “The Queen has requested her services.” He tried to make his features as blank as possible, it would be expected, but from the girl’s expression, he wasn’t succeeding.

“Tessa lives at the end of the women’s quarters. She was mover after her sister…” She froze, her already pale skin going even paler. Cain nodded and followed her directions. Ducking into the last room, he found himself in a dormitory with perhaps seven beds in it. Two women were making their beds at the nearest end, his eyes travelled past them. At the end Tessa sat on her neatly made bed, she was apart from the rest of them he noticed. He saw the looks they gave her out of the corner of their eyes, and he also saw the stubborn set of her chin and the defiance in her eyes. A red-haired woman was sneering at her, muttering something that made Tessa flinch, when she noticed him. The two women closest to him froze when the saw him, unsure of what to do.