To Sing the Tortured to Sleep

X. The Past (Kain's POV)

“They’re so pretty!”

The words of a girl no older than ten rang through the room, her soft fingers tracing the silver binding on one of the books I’d pulled out. Her eyes widened at the sight of the large black butterfly on the front. “Cheater!” she whined, attempting to reach for the book.

I was only a few years older than her but I was a lot taller and I often used it to my advantage.

“No fair!” she cried when I jokingly placed the jook on a higher shelf.

“You can keep the book if you can catch me,” I insisted. I was faster than her, but for the sake of making her happy I would let her catch me.

I pulled the book off of the shelf I’d placed it on and hugged it to my chest as I ran from her. I hadn’t even noticed how close she was to me until I’d barely avoided her lunge.

Seconds later I was being tackled to the floor by the child and onto the soft fur carpet. She giggled and rolled off of me as I handed her the book. Lying on her stomach, she opened the book and began looking at the various images of butterflies that covered the pages. She looked so cute when she was focused.

I leaned over, kissing her cheek softly. I didn’t recognize what I’d done at first, completely ruled by instinct. She didn’t seem to mind, blushing and giggling as I wrapped my arm around her waist and turned to a page that I told her would have particularly beautiful butterflies. She agreed, they were beautiful.

I didn’t know why I’d kissed her, but after years of pondering I’d figured it out. I did it because I loved her.

I loved Isabelle.

----------------------

“It’s so pretty!” Angel complimented as she gazed around the huge library in awe.

I recalled the words from my dream but ignored the coincidence. Immediately, Raven began searching for any book that would give us a hint as to who the masked men were that attacked us yesterday.

“If you find any sort of book on the methods to jog someone’s memory, we could certainly use that!” I joked, causing Angel to give a small giggle.

Raven nodded but seemed to focused in her researched to fully grasp the joke I’d made.

“What is that?” Angel asked as we passed the desk I’d occupied as a small child. There was a dusty book sitting in the center of the desk and I knew all too well what it was. Angel picked it up and blew the dust from the cover, wiping the rest off with her hand. She seemed mesmerized by the butterfly on the cover.

“Does it look familiar?” I asked, although I didn’t expect much of a result. It was worth a shot though, wasn’t it?

“It sort of does,” Angel explained, “I used to love butterflies.”

“Have you ever seen this book?” I asked, although I knew what her answer would be. A solid no, because it was impossible that she’d seen it before. It was a special edition that I’d asked father to order specifically so I could show it to Isabelle as a child. It had surely been too expensive for any ordinary family to obtain.

“I think so,” Angel replied, evidently trying hard to remember. Angel opened the front cover and for the first time in the years since Isabelle had disappeared, I saw the engraving on the inside.

Kain Montgomery ♥ Isabelle Richardson

Angel ran her fingers along the words as if she’d recognized them, although moved past the page indifferently as if she didn’t understand the meaning behind them. Then she turned to page twenty three, it had been Isabelle’s favorite page with the most exquisite blue and orange butterfly.

“I remember this page. When I was little I used to stare at this page for hours. I love the shape of the wings, they’re almost shaped like little hearts,” Angel explained and my heart fell further and further into my stomach.

Was this girl toying with me? Did she remember me somehow? How could she possibly remember this little insignificant book and have no idea who I was?

I left Angel to the book and approached Raven who was deep in her research. “Find anything?” I asked, but she gave me an unfortunate shake of her head.

“Apparently masked attackers are too broad of a topic,” Raven pointed out, and I sighed defeated.

“Well, I have one more idea. Bear with me on this one,” I explained to Raven, who lifted her head and stared at me, paying full attention to whatever I was about to say.

“I need you to find out where the Richardsons are living. I don’t care if we have to travel all the way to Argane, they’re our last hope.”