Read Online Silence: Part Two of Echoes & Silence by A.M Hudson - Free Book Online Page B

took another step back as the depth of his emotion showed in his aura, making his skin glow blue, like mine did when I made love to David.
    He looked up from the ground, his haunting eyes brimming with thick, foggy liquid. “She was not my own child, but she was my daughter all the same. And I loved her— unconditionally . I have been with her, loved her, protected her, for centuries. Centuries ,” he yelled, cupping a hand across his mouth after and slowly wiping it down his chin, composing himself. “And then you came along, and she did one thing. Just one thing to offend you—something that, while it was cruel was not irreparable—and for that, David took her life .”
    I swallowed hard, trying not to feel anything, but either he was a tremendous performer, or he truly was completely torn up about Morgana.
    He lowered both hands to his knees and breathed heavily a few times. “I will never see her again. I will never hold her again. Centuries , Amara.” He rolled stiffly to stand, the tears freeing themselves from his lashes, following an invisible path down his cheeks. “You do not fully understand the pain. But David does. He knew as he beat her and as he tore her head from her body what he was taking away from me, and he chose to do it.” He wiped his face. “So I’m sorry, but if you lost a group of people you knew for a few months, you walked out of this relatively unscathed, because it is not a habit of mine to show mercy. And mercy is what you all received that day.” The way his voice shook as he spoke, with a mix of hurt and devastation—unnervingly free of anger—made my shoulders drop a little. It wasn’t an act. No matter how good he might be at playing a role, what I just saw in him was raw emotion—pure and unadulterated heartache.
    I understood then, and it scared me, to imagine how I would feel if I let Jason give his soul for my baby.
    “For what it’s worth, Drake, I never wanted her dead,” I said. “Not really. And I am sorry.”
    He closed his eyes and drew a long breath through an open mouth, composing himself. “That means a great deal to me, Amara. More than you know, being that you’re the first person to acknowledge her passing.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “She was cremated in a bonfire at a Lilithian Fair.” He opened both hands as if to present the absence of Morgana, or maybe of the stolen rights of family. “I was never given the chance to say goodbye; she knew very few people in her life here, so there were none to mourn her with me. And not one soul in my entire universe knows the pain I feel for her loss. Therefore none have thought to offer condolences.”
    A cold pinching sensation moved up from my ankles to my arms, leaving little bumps behind. Until I remembered breaking the devastating news to the adoptive parents of those little children as they arrived the next day to either take their babies home or stay for a visit.
    “Well, you have your condolences now. And that’s all you will ever get from me.” I nodded once and turned away to continue my swift-paced albeit false attempt to leave.
    “Where will you go?” he asked.
    “I don’t know.” I folded my arms over my chest, watching my feet roll against the gravel with each step. “Maybe to Jason.”
    “Of all the places, why there?”
    “Why not?”
    “Because you know too well that the House will find you there—”
    “And Jason will hide me—keep me safe.”
    “Yes. He will. But at what cost?”
    I stopped walking. “What do you mean?”
    “He is a smart boy. The second you turn up on his doorstep, he will pack up his things and take you far away—where no one will find you.”
    “How is that a bad thing?”
    “It’s not. But what will he leave behind to do that?” he said. “All that he has worked for, all that he has become, he will let it go to keep you safe and, at the end of it all, you will return to David and he will have nothing. And no one.”
    I slowly released my arms