*****CHAPTER 7

MAE'S POV

As I sat on the bridge, I stared into the waters that flowed beneath the smooth curves of the bridge. The wind was smooth and friendly today. It played with and blew against my hair gently, calming my head at the same time and causing me to forget about all my troubles momentarily. This was my personal space. My personal sanctuary was somewhere I always returned, no matter what was going on in my life. I first visited here when I was twelve, and since then, it has become a part of me and someplace I always return to. Here, I could cry out my heart the way I wanted without trying to play hard. Here, I could let my walls crumble without fearing my vulnerability. Here, I could simply be.

After I had sat on the bridge for long minutes, I dived a hand into the pocket of my trouser and retrieved a few coins from within. I stared at the coins in my hand—thirty bronze coins. That was how much I had earned today, even with my hard work. Today, I tried to redeem myself from the thieving of the other day and took to helping an old woman sell her wares in the market instead of stealing. And then I made thirty bronze coins! Thirty fucking bronze coins!

I shut my eyes briefly and tried to control the strong feeling of disappointment that rushed through me. By the gods, what was I supposed to do with thirty bronze coins? What could this ridiculous amount do for my family? How was I supposed to earn enough to be able to save for Pearl's new pair of shoes that I had promised I would get for her?

Frustrated, I did the one thing I always did whenever I came here. I reached for my other pocket and produced an old, small booklet from inside with a small pen. Tearing a sheet out rather carelessly, I set my pen against it and began to scribble down my thoughts. My hurts, my deepest emotions, and my feelings that I could never share with anyone else, and then, when I was done, I took another final deep breath before flinging it towards the water. However, this time, I did not take my time to watch the piece of paper successfully succumb into the mass of water before I got up and turned my back against the water, walking away from the bridge again.

This was the same circle I repeated whenever I visited this place. Somehow, this time, I had a weird feeling lurching in my heart, an uncontented, unsatisfied feeling that I couldn't quite place where it came from. Maybe I should have waited to see the piece of paper sink into the water and get washed away like the others always did. It's not like it mattered, but a part of me felt like I could have felt as content as the other days if I had watched it get washed away. Or maybe the reason I was feeling this way wasn't because of the piece of paper, but because I felt my life was becoming more boring as the days passed. It was always the same repeated cycle: steal or work menial jobs for meager pay, feed my poor family, and come sit at the bridge to feel connected to the waters. There was nothing to spice up my life.


There was no one to spice up my life.


………..

ALCOT'S POV

As I walked into the dining room for breakfast with Oliver as my escort, my mother raised her eyes from her food when she heard the sound of my heels against the floors, and she sent me a smile that I reciprocated with a small one. Beside her was Scarlet, sipping from her glass of drink and watching me from the rim of her cup with her long false lashes. Ignoring her, I walked up to my mother and placed a small kiss on her cheek before taking a seat beside her.

"Good morning, mother. Did you sleep well?" I asked her, picking my cutlery off the top of the table.

"You bet I did. Did you?" She asked me as she filled my plate with a variety of vegetables and grilled turkey.

"I did, mother." I replied and extended another smile of gratitude at her.

"I doubt it, my love." Scarlet's voice caused me to look up from my food to meet her ocean blue eyes staring interestingly at me. "I heard you kept turning and tossing all through the night."

My gaze turned to a warning glare that warned her to keep quiet unless she wanted to have her tongue cut off and set for breakfast at the dining table.

"Tossing and turning?" My mother stared suspiciously at me while I did all I could to avoid her gaze. Instead, I looked back at my food and pretended to be deeply interested in devouring everything at once.

"Yes, Adeline." Scarlet answered on my behalf, and I gritted my teeth in revolting rage. I did not understand why I had someone as annoying as Scarlet playing the role of Luna by my side when we clearly did not even see eye-to-eye.

"What is going on, Alcot?" "What are you hiding from me?" My mother's tone switched to one of deep concern and worry, and for the zillionth time since I had met Scarlet, I wished I had killed her before we ever got mated.

"It's nothing, mother." I lied, shoving a generous amount of food into my mouth. "You know better than listening to the mad dog."

I heard Scarlet snicker annoyingly as my words came, and again, I wish I could end her existence right here, once and for all.

"Are the nightmares coming back?" My mother asked after another round of silence in the room.

"No, mother." I lied again.

"He's lying, Adeline." "You can see it in the way his left hand is twitching." Scarlet was maintained and pointed out. I immediately stared down at my hand to see that she was right and that it was truly twitching just like it always did whenever I told a lie. I bit my bottom lip and curled my hand in a tight ball to hide the evidence of my lies, but it was a tad too late, and my mother had seen that Scarlet was right. I never understood why Scarlet always liked to keep my mother on edge about the insomnia I suffered from. Especially the nightmares. Even after she knew how easily worried my mother could get and how that could worsen her health condition, Sometimes, I couldn't help but think the witch simply wanted my mother dead. But again, I was sure she was aware that was the last thing she would be able to do as long as she lived. Except she wanted her head beheaded and served to the goose.

"Have you been taking your drugs, son?" My mother asked again, and her fear and worries tripled to a massive degree.

"I'm fine, mother." I dropped my cutlery and rose from my seat. Just as she wanted, Scarlet had succeeded in chasing me from the dining table. I wished I could shove the rest of the food down her pretty throat and have her eat it all by herself.

"Why are you leaving?" "You haven't even had enough bites of your food." My mother protested, but I began to walk away, not giving her the slightest chance to try and talk me back into returning to the dining table.

"I just recalled I have somewhere important to be at." I gave her a fake smile this time before offering her a small curt bow of my head. Then, I turned my back against the dining table, but not without sending Scarlet a scrowl, which she returned with a sinister smile.

Without another waste of time, I walked away from them and out of the overly large dining room. More than anything, I needed a space to breathe. A space away from this castle.