Read Online The Select's Bodyguard (Children of the Wells - Bron & Calea Book 1) by Nick Hayden - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Nick Hayden
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I didn’t ask for you, and yet I’ve spent five years with you at my side, like a dog, a stupid dog that needed more kicks than I gave it. Be relieved you’re leaving me. Be glad. You’re free. Free from my grasping. Free from my complaining, my insults, my weakness. That’s it, isn’t it? You’re sorry I was so weak. You’re sorry you had to put up with me all these years. Tell me.”
She had come around the desk. She was in his face, eye-to-eye, forcing him back, but he refused to move. His face revealed nothing.
“I will tell you,” he said. A small emotion crossed his face. He had made a decision. “Sit, and I will tell you.”
Calea flung herself back into her chair. “Begin.”
“I am more than twenty years older than you. When you were a child, I was a young man. I was employed with the Academy as a maintenance man. It was my job to keep the areas under my supervision clean and in good repair. One of my responsibilities was the Greinham Observation Deck. For some weeks, I was extremely busy in upkeep. Things all go bad at the same time. Then, one day, I heard that the gate at the corner of the Observation Deck had come loose and a girl had fallen into the Well. She lived, but she had been irreversibly injured.”
Calea hardened herself. “And you felt guilty.”
A pause. “Yes.”
“And you thought protecting me would relieve this guilt?”
“Yes.”
“And did it?”
It seemed he was trying to find words. “You are a proud woman. You have accomplished incredible things. The injury did not stop you. You have done remarkably well for yourself.”
“And the guilt?”
“It is what it is.”
Calea stood again, tamping down the raw emotions. “I forgive you, of course. We may part on good terms. You could have been far worse to me than you were.”
Bron nodded. Her words had not exactly been kind, but they were the best she could manage without revealing her emotions. Bron had seen her rage, her sorrow, all her violent lashings, but she refused to let him see it again, at the end. “Good-bye, Bron. Perhaps our paths will cross occasionally.”
“Perhaps.”
After he left, she let the tears loose. A thin film of anger covered them, but mostly it was sorrow for what had been lost. She couldn’t blame him for her accident. She wanted to, but in the middle of the many, many nights, she had faced the loss of her limbs and discovered she had no one to blame. Not herself, not another, just blind chance. The gate had happened to be loose; she had happened to fall against it. Neither she nor Bron factored into it. If not Bron, then another. If not her, then another.
And that is why she cried. For the guilt. She felt it, too, just as he did. Guilt for her own loss. Guilt for the stupidity of the world. Guilt for the things that no one could change. She felt blindly, inexorably responsible for what had happened simply because she lived. Guilt for having existed and for continuing to exist in such a stupid, random world. She had almost forgotten the despair....
The night after the accident, she had been unable to sleep. She was afraid to close her eyes. Whenever she began to drift into sleep, she felt the tug of the magic, and woke with a jolt, a scream in her throat. She looked; she still remained. But if she slept, she would be eaten up. She would vanish like the coins and the ribbon. She would simply...cease.
And a girl who might simply vanish had no business investing in anything but herself.
Bron was the only person she had never been able to scare off, the only one who tried to do something extra for her, for no reason at all.
Well, he had a reason. Everyone had a reason. Maybe everyone’s reason was guilt.
But he was gone. Finally. She took a deep breath. With luck, she’d never see him again.
Chapter 9 - Rock Bottom
After I lock the three soldiers in the storage room, I set Calea down in the lab. She screws her face into some interesting expressions, but she doesn’t
She had come around the desk. She was in his face, eye-to-eye, forcing him back, but he refused to move. His face revealed nothing.
“I will tell you,” he said. A small emotion crossed his face. He had made a decision. “Sit, and I will tell you.”
Calea flung herself back into her chair. “Begin.”
“I am more than twenty years older than you. When you were a child, I was a young man. I was employed with the Academy as a maintenance man. It was my job to keep the areas under my supervision clean and in good repair. One of my responsibilities was the Greinham Observation Deck. For some weeks, I was extremely busy in upkeep. Things all go bad at the same time. Then, one day, I heard that the gate at the corner of the Observation Deck had come loose and a girl had fallen into the Well. She lived, but she had been irreversibly injured.”
Calea hardened herself. “And you felt guilty.”
A pause. “Yes.”
“And you thought protecting me would relieve this guilt?”
“Yes.”
“And did it?”
It seemed he was trying to find words. “You are a proud woman. You have accomplished incredible things. The injury did not stop you. You have done remarkably well for yourself.”
“And the guilt?”
“It is what it is.”
Calea stood again, tamping down the raw emotions. “I forgive you, of course. We may part on good terms. You could have been far worse to me than you were.”
Bron nodded. Her words had not exactly been kind, but they were the best she could manage without revealing her emotions. Bron had seen her rage, her sorrow, all her violent lashings, but she refused to let him see it again, at the end. “Good-bye, Bron. Perhaps our paths will cross occasionally.”
“Perhaps.”
After he left, she let the tears loose. A thin film of anger covered them, but mostly it was sorrow for what had been lost. She couldn’t blame him for her accident. She wanted to, but in the middle of the many, many nights, she had faced the loss of her limbs and discovered she had no one to blame. Not herself, not another, just blind chance. The gate had happened to be loose; she had happened to fall against it. Neither she nor Bron factored into it. If not Bron, then another. If not her, then another.
And that is why she cried. For the guilt. She felt it, too, just as he did. Guilt for her own loss. Guilt for the stupidity of the world. Guilt for the things that no one could change. She felt blindly, inexorably responsible for what had happened simply because she lived. Guilt for having existed and for continuing to exist in such a stupid, random world. She had almost forgotten the despair....
The night after the accident, she had been unable to sleep. She was afraid to close her eyes. Whenever she began to drift into sleep, she felt the tug of the magic, and woke with a jolt, a scream in her throat. She looked; she still remained. But if she slept, she would be eaten up. She would vanish like the coins and the ribbon. She would simply...cease.
And a girl who might simply vanish had no business investing in anything but herself.
Bron was the only person she had never been able to scare off, the only one who tried to do something extra for her, for no reason at all.
Well, he had a reason. Everyone had a reason. Maybe everyone’s reason was guilt.
But he was gone. Finally. She took a deep breath. With luck, she’d never see him again.
Chapter 9 - Rock Bottom
After I lock the three soldiers in the storage room, I set Calea down in the lab. She screws her face into some interesting expressions, but she doesn’t
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