Haunted Hearts

2

He caught the missile midair and tucked the pillow firmly under his elbow as he plunked his fists on his hips when he stopped at the foot of her bed.

"Mrs. Hare is sending up another tray; I expect you to eat every last morsel, or I'll feed you myself... I'm bigger, stronger, and older than you, Meliphant, and right now, I don't care what you want, so you will obey me or suffer the consequences."

Out of nowhere, a bubble of rage at being called Meliphant burst to life in Elphi's chest, growing and expanding until it consumed her entire being. Roderick hadn't called her that for well over ten years. He hadn't dared.

The last time Roderick had done so—while trumpeting, tossing his right arm around like an elephant trunk, and stomping through the manor—Elphi had given him a sound thrashing resulting in two matching black eyes, a bloody nose, and a split lower lip.

It didn't matter that at the time, she'd weighed two and a half stone heavier than she was now. The instant the horrid nickname fell from Roderick's lips, Elphi was transported back to the self-conscious girl who felt every inch the enormous and unwieldy elephant he'd teased her for being.

A primal scream tore from her throat as she launched herself at him from the bed, her arms outstretched and fingers curled into claws intent on delivering pain.

Roderick anticipated her attack and used the pillow as a shield to soften the initial blow, then cursed when Elphi tore it out of his grasp with her left hand and swung her right fist toward his face.

Stars burst before his eyes in blinding colors, and he staggered backward on wobbling legs as he reached to cradle his aching jaw.

Two things became instantaneously clear.

First—and perhaps most important—he'd forgotten hearing the nickname made her go feral. A mistake he would not make again. And second, his little sister had a mean right hook.

She stood a safe distance away while he regained his bearings, her face red with fury and hands curled into tight fists at her side, chest heaving with angry breaths and murderous rage in her eyes.

And that was why he'd stooped to lower than the scum of the earth by calling her the name he promised himself he'd never utter ever again.

Because after breaking down her door and seeing the haunted emptiness in Elphi's gaze, he didn't know what else to do to make it go away. Except by calling her Meliphant. And he'd do it all over again because it had worked.

Perhaps a little better than anticipated, he silently admitted as he straightened to his full height and tested his jaw with a wince, but it worked nonetheless.

Now, if he could only make her laugh.

Spying the pillow lying in an unassuming lump nearby, he scooped it up, hauled back his right arm, and chucked it at her with enough force to liberate a tuft of goose down upon impact.

Elphi blinked and pulled the feathers from her mouth before wadding the pillow into a tight ball and hurling it at Roderick's head. Several more feathers escaped.

Roderick laughed and threw it at Elphi again, hard enough to make it burst completely open and shower her in goose down.

The depleted pillow casing sank to the floor as Elphi's bubbling chuckles grew into a full, deep laugh and mixed with Roderick's rumbling laughter.

But then something peculiar happened—something he didn't expect.

One minute they were grinning at each other, doubled over laughing, and then the next, Elphi was weeping and stumbling toward him with arms outstretched in supplication.