HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 130

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty

For a second, time went completely still.

Nobody moved, nobody breathed, nobody spoke--everything was frozen. My brain shut down during it, but once that second passed, I whipped to look at Echo with panic threatening to strangle me. I had a barrage of questions, but I couldn't catch them fast enough to ask any.

"How does he know about that?!" I loudly blurted. "Echo, who is this? How do you know him?"

Echo swallowed, but he didn't look at me, he simply glared at the blind fae in my arms.

"I met him back when I was a very young child," he said in a cold voice, "and because of him, I was forced to undergo painful experimentations in the covens after I made... mistakes."

I frowned. "What mistakes?"

Echo finally looked away, seemingly uncomfortable, but Binx released me and set his paw-like feet on the ground, dropping all eight of his arms and turning towards him. His fur rippled in the firelight like glossy sapphires and I jumped when I saw a short fluffy tail wagging behind him.

It was wide and spotted, just like a baby deer's.

"What you did wasn't a mistake, it was a blessing that I've been grateful for since the moment it happened," Binx trilled, shaking his head with a wide smile on his face. "You saved my life."

"If that's how you see it, your memory has warped over the last few hundred years," Echo viciously hissed, baring his fangs in a menacing way. "I didn't save you! You used me!"

Binx froze, mouth dropping open, blue eyes growing huge.

He looked shocked.

"No," he whispered, shaking his head slowly. "No, that's not true--"

"It is," Echo sneered, smiling wickedly and revealing his fangs. "You fed me pretty lies. You told me stories about the wonders and joys of living, about life beyond the factory, with the killings, and bloodlettings, and the endless training sessions. You manipulated me."

"No, I didn't," Binx defiantly retorted, placatingly raising a single furry hand. "My biggest regret from back then was that we were separated at the wrong time. I couldn't find you after you let go of my hand. I tried to, I really did... I called out, so many times, but they were upon me before too long and I had no choice but to cast the spell to take me as close to my home as possible."

"You lie!"

"No! There was no time to wait for you--"

"Filthy fucking lies," Echo said in a cold, mean voice. "You left me alone and injured in a freezing forest with half my coven after me. You threw me to the wolves."

"What the hell is going on?!" I shouted, confused and angry. "Echo, who is this?!"

He looked at me sharply. "Horst... I was manipulated. By this creature. I know him."

"HOW?!" I shrilly hollered. "When the hell did you meet him?!"

"When I was five years old," Echo snapped, and every part of me went numb. "Back in the coven, when I was being raised to serve under my original master, I met this brownie and he lured me astray. He nearly got me killed, and he did get me tortured and experimented on for three years."

I couldn't believe my ears. "Echo... what the hell do you mean? What happened?"

He seemed conflicted, and I admit, I caught the hesitant look he shot my way. He seemed to be struggling with something internally, but he soon deflated and sagged in on himself.