~ Dying Heart ~
My head hurt.
Everything took a couple of minutes to come into focus when I opened my eyes, my memory just as fuzzy. A weakly-lit room took shape as I sat up in bed. It took me a second to realize the bed was only a mattress that had been thrown right on the floor and topped with velvety, violet blankets.
“Where am I?” Feeling a leg laid over mine, I turned around and found Roman sleeping beside me. “Roman?” I asked, placing a hand on his arm.
“Hey, sweetie,” he said, sleepily.
“Where are we?”
He sat up and took the hand I had on his arm to kiss it. “What does it matter? We’re together.”
“But—” I took my hand away to put on the back of my head, which was throbbing. “but—What about Luke—something—” It all came back at once. “Luke! Where’s Luke?”
I felt something heavy around my ankle as I stood up, causing me to lose my balance and fall back down.
Roman grabbed my shoulders to hold me in place. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t ever want to hear you say Knight’s name again.”
“Where is he?”
“I went back and took care of him. He’s out of the picture, okay? You can stop saying his name.”
“You, you killed him?” my voice came in a whisper.
“I had to—”
“No,”
“He was coming between us—”
“No, no, no, NO, NO,”
“Kristine, calm down!”
But I couldn’t. Not without Luke. “NO, NO, NO,” I kept screaming, because it couldn’t be true. I continued screaming as I rested my head against my knees.
“Kristine—“
“NO, NO, NO,”
“Kristine—” Roman kept trying to talk to me, but I couldn’t stop screaming, not until it stopped being true. Roman finally stood up and said, “I’ll be back when you’re done with your little tantrum,” before he left through the door at the other end of the room.
I wailed and cried out, because it hurt like I couldn’t believe. Nothing—not even North Haven or my friends—could ever compensate for losing Luke.
He was dead. My heart was dying with him.
* * * *
Hours later, I lay numbly on the mattress. My ankle was shackled to a chain that was cemented into the wall in a tiny bathroom. It stretched just long enough to let me lie comfortably in the bed.
I had no idea where I was, just that it was nowhere near another living soul. After the screaming and banging and no one responding at all, I knew I was all alone.
Aside from toilet paper and soap, all the room contained was a chair with a lamp sitting on it on the other side of the room where I would never be able to get to it.
My con was gone. I was hungry. The lump on the back of my head where Roman must have knocked me out ached.
But none of this really mattered to me. All that mattered was the absolute devastation I’d suffered. The loss of Luke. I had to go on living without him, and it was the worst fate imaginable.
I wondered if Roman intended to keep me there forever because I knew he was the guilty one. Even if he did—who cared? What was the point of going on? I wished Harmony was there to put her arm around me, but it wouldn’t have helped. Not really. Without Luke, my spirit was crushed.
The door opened then, but I didn’t bother to look up. “Are you feeling better?” Roman asked.
“No.”
“This might help.” He set down a plate of steaming pasta and a backpack next to me. “I brought you clean clothes and some of your other girly stuff.” How could he act like that? Like everything was normal?
“Why are you doing this to me?” I choked out.
He simply smiled and said, “Because I love you.”
“But I don’t love you.”
“You will. Trust me. I knew the moment I saw you that you were the one. You’re my soul mate, the one I’m meant to be with. Forever. Until you see this too, I have enough love for both of us.”
I wanted to lash out. I wanted to scream and curse him for taking Luke from me—make sure he understood that I would always hate him—but I just didn’t have the energy.
“So...so you’re going to keep me in here forever?”
“Of course not.” He reached out to touch my face, so I leaned away. “When you’re ready to admit that you love me and you’ll let me take care of and love you for the rest of our lives, I’ll let you go. Until then—” He scooted closer and held my hand. “I’ll keep you here with me.”
“Please don’t touch me,” I said, taking my hand away.
He let out a sigh as he smoothed my hair behind my ear. Then he crawled over me and sat beside me on the mattress with his back against the wall. He began running his hand over my back.
“What happens when everyone realizes I’m gone?” I said.
A look of disgust spread over Roman’s face. “They’ll probably think you ran away with him, since he’ll come up missing, too.”
“And what about when spring comes?” I finally turned around to face him. “You’ll have to go back to North Haven—What then? Are you just gonna leave me here to rot?”
“No...” He gave me a frustrated look. “You weren’t supposed to be in their dungeon. You were never supposed to find out...but I’ll figure out something. Nothing will ever come between us again.”
Delusional, twisted idiot! I screamed inside my head. I turned my back to him again and let him resume rubbing it. “I’ll never love you.”
His hand slowed down as he said, “You will, Kristine. Even if I have to wait years for it, you will love me.”