Little Red (Twisted Dark, #4)

Chapter Six: Hard Truths

"You sell yourself short, Lili." She seemed to float around the kitchen. There was no huddling or wary glances around when she was in her own space. I liked to see her like she was, it reminded me of who she could have been, or would have been before that fucking sadistic warlock got his hands on her. "Mama thinks I need to go talk to a healer."

She said it softly and I grimaced, "Mama needs to let you work through your issues without pushing you." I knew our mother loved Tia, I knew she loved all of us, but sometimes she pushed when she wasn't supposed to or when it was detrimental to do so.

"I have an appointment with the healer next week at precisely three. She is coming over for tea." Tia carefully grabbed several jars of loose tea and set them on the table, adjusting them so they sat precisely where she wanted them to. "I don't have to leave the house." At that I wanted to laugh, I could only imagine how much it grated on mother to not get Tia out of the house like she wanted her too.

"Did mama like that?" I picked up the jar of home made peach tea and carefully spooned some into my cup as Tia sat across from me and grabbed her lavender tea and took a spoonful of that.

"No but the healer insisted upon it to keep me comfortable." She set her spoon down and moved the tea jar back into the right spot before she looked at me. "I think I want to talk to her. I feel..." She pinched her lips together tightly, blinking those big eyes at me. "I feel...trapped." She said it carefully, fidgeting slightly and I pinched my lips together. "What Horati-"

"Don't say that bastard's name." It came out clipped and Tia let out a shuddering breath.

"Fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing you refuse to name. It gives it control over you. Horatio has enough of that already." Her hands shook slightly as she adjusted her teacup. "He trapped me and because of that I have allowed my fear to trap me just like he did. I need to adjust and move forward because if I don't, that means I never left that little room he had me in." I didn't really want to talk about the night that that bastard took her, where he tied her up and sadistically tortured her for hours and I really didn't like that she was bringing it up at all.

"That name should not sully your tongue." I didn't want her to say it because then he was there with her again and I honestly couldn't handle that.

"It won't. It is just a name, it has no power over me, not unless I give it that power." She pushed her glasses up her nose before looking at me. "You don't want me to say it because it is your way of protecting me from him when you couldn't before." She gave me a crooked and sad smile and her words struck at my chest, making me scowl. I wanted to disagree but the hated fact inside of me was I couldn't.

"I should have." I should have been there for her that night, instead Bam and I had escaped into the Forests to rebel against the world we were in. I never should have left because then he never would have gotten his slimy little hands on her.

Tia reached across the table and grasped my hands in hers. "You cannot live your life protecting me from the world, Lili." She gave my hands a soft squeeze and my scowl deepened.

"I can damn well try." I muttered it out and she set my hands down, patting the back of them gently before putting her own on her lap.

"I'll never not need you, Lili, but I think I need to try and step out on my own. Even if it is as simple as letting someone else in." She met my gaze and her smile was a bit brighter than the previous one and I had to smile at her in return. I might not have wanted her to bring everything back up again, to relive what had happened, I would support her through it regardless.

The kettle whistled and she quickly stood up and headed over to it. She grabbed it off the stove and carried it over. She poured the boiling water into both of out cups as carefully as she could before she returned it to the stove top. "When did you get so wise about this shit?" I picked up my spoon and stirred my tea, swirling the leaves in the hot water.