Page 11 of Divine Violence
It hurt being forgotten. It hurt knowing that you were truly and utterly all alone in the world.
It hurt that none of them tried to find me and my brother. If they had, I wouldn’t be standing here. By the time they had managed to contact my grandparents after my parents died, Marcus and I were already lost in the foster system.
But the Talon family lived in the same city where my parents were murdered, and they did nothing. If that didn’t speak volumes, I had no idea what did.
“You’re Dominic Talon,” I blabbered, suppressing the hurt and pain threatening to lace my words as I uttered his name. “Sorry.” I lifted my hands and untied the little string holding my mask in place. “It’s only fair for you to see my face.”
As I lifted my head, mask-free, the gasp that escaped him didn’t go unnoticed.
“My name is Echo.” I stepped closer to him, masking my features. “Echo Winslow.”
“Winslow?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing. There was anger in those eyes, confusion as well. That little spark of hope lit up inside of my chest, telling me that he might have recognized me as well.
“It is nice to meet you, Echo.” He shook my hand and that hope burning inside of me died a slow death. “I must say that I know almost everyone here, but I have never seen you.”
That terrible crashing sound? That was my heart shattering on the floor between us.
“Yes, well…” I swallowed the tears slowly announcing themselves and stepped back. “This is the first time that I’m coming to this party.”
“Dom?” Alexander’s voice pulled my attention from Dominic to him. I would’ve been lying if I said that it didn’t bring me relief. “What are you doing here?” he asked leisurely.
“I’m introducing myself to our guest here. I saw you two earlier but what can I say?” He shrugged. “I was curious.”
Alexander’s eyes flickered from Dominic to me as if he was asking me if I was okay. And I was. Somehow I was.
It hurt being forgotten, but it was better than Dominic giving me pitiful eyes tonight.
“I was just telling Dominic that I knew him. Well, that I know of him. Of course, I have never met him before.”
I could feel Dominic’s eyes on me, but I refused to look at him. He was just another reminder of everything I’d lost and this night wasn’t reserved for grief. This was my rebirth, my last night in Ignis, and pain had no place here tonight.
But try telling that to my head and my heart.
A beast found its home on top of my chest, and all the warm and fuzzy feelings I’d been having completely evaporated, disappearing into thin air. My hand pressed against my chest, rubbing against my breastbone, as if I could find a release by redirecting the pain from my mind to my body.
I hated feeling like this, so completely out of balance, but I couldn’t help it.
It was silly getting hurt over such stupid things, but the logical part of my mind decided to exclude itself from this conversation, leaving me breathless in the presence of my past colliding with my future.
This night was supposed to be my reincarnation. I promised myself I would live. I would do everything my brother would’ve done if he had lived long enough, but I didn’t expect to get hit by this onslaught of emotions.
There was thunder flashing in Dominic’s eyes. He wore a carefree expression, but eyes never lied. People were right when they said that you could see one’s soul through their eyes, and I could see the violence waking up in Dominic. Whether it was me or something I had said, I had no idea, but I didn’t like the look.
He strolled in oozing confidence, carefree, trying to introduce himself to me, and whatever it was that he saw shattered that careful illusion he had tried to present. Maybe he too recognized me but refused to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Maybe I reminded him of something else. Maybe this Dominic was so far removed from the boy I used to know that whatever image of him I had in my mind was just a mirage.
Alexander still stood at the entrance, holding two glasses of champagne, his eyes observing both Dominic and me. I, on the other hand, focused on Alexander’s bowtie, ignoring the fire burning in the pit of my stomach.
I couldn’t break down. Not here and not now.
“It was definitely nice meeting you, Echo,” Dominic grunted, his voice a velvety touch on my skin. “Alex.” He turned to him, giving me his profile. “A word, please.”
He gave me a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, this cold version of Dominic gutted me. The stitches over my heart ripped open, reopening the wound I'd worked so hard to close all these years ago. The sudden need to just jump off this ship and go back into hiding rocked my entire body. Alexander’s apologetic smile as he placed the champagne flutes on one of the benches in front of him only made it worse.
Cold, vehement hands of destiny wrapped themselves around my throat, and the words and smiles I wanted to give him were lost on me. There was nothing I could say. I feared that once I opened my mouth, it wouldn’t be words tumbling out of me, but vicious sobs that were teetering somewhere on the edge of my sanity right now.
I needed them gone. Both of them.
