Chapter 45: Delicate

I gasped, completely dumbstruck by what he’d said. I thought that I would be the only weakness that King Nicholas would have. I thought that they were all completely invincible. But I was wrong.

“I thought that, perhaps she had made a mistake,” Nicholas continued to speak, “that she’d take it back and apologise. But when I turned around, all I saw in her eyes was pure hatred. It had poisoned her completely and she drew another blade and tried to stab me with it. I tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t listen. She was too corrupted… that was when Lorenzo entered the front door, a gun in each hand. I realised then, that the whole thing was orchestrated by him. He tried to shoot me with one of his silver bullets, but I was too quick and evaded his aim. But he was careless with his shots and at one point he almost shot Portia. That fucking careless bastard. Each time he pulled the trigger and each time Portia tried to lunge for me, my hatred for Lorenzo only grew. Until I couldn’t take it anymore. And that’s when I used my lightning. I aimed it right for Lorenzo… I wanted that asshole dead, after all, he was to blame for everything. But Portia jumped in front of him in an attempt to protect him. She died almost instantly. And as I ran towards her and held her lifeless body in my hands, Lorenzo fled like the coward he was…”

By now Nicholas was in tears, his hands shaking uncontrollably. He was so vulnerable and so fragile. I’d never seen his emotions so exposed and admittedly, tears welled up in my eyes too.

“That day… I was completely shattered. Her mother’s voice rang in my head, blaming me over and over again. It was my fault… I killed her… I was careless. After I’d buried Portia and laid her to rest next to her mother, I tried to look for her children, to protect them from their father and his vile influence. But I suppose Lorenzo didn’t want them to be found. Eventually, the guilt of everything began to eat away at me and Aura didn’t help at all. She’d blame me too and her control over me only increased to the point where I was forced to take in servants into the house. They were meant to keep an eye on me and keep me in check. But I had no interest in keeping servants. So, I kept them as employees. They could come and go as they pleased, all they needed to do was take care of the house. And as the years passed by, I grew more and more reclusive. The only thing on my mind was Portia and Mave and the guilt I held onto. And I’d grown comfortable in wallowing in that guilt. I felt comfortable in the numbness of my newfound reclusive nature and the nonchalance of each passing day… until I found you.”

Nicholas gazed up at me, his eyes glistening with tears and the sadness of what he’d just told me. Immediately when I saw his purely pained expression, I reached out and grabbed onto him, holding him as tightly as I could. And as I embraced him, he cried even harder, his tears wetting my shoulder.

“I’m so sorry…” I whispered against his shirt.

He shook his head, held me by the shoulders and gently moved me away from him so he could look at my face.

“You have nothing to apologise for. I was… responsible for her death and I am guilty for my complete carelessness and my temper. But, I must ask, who told you about Portia’s death?”

And that was when I froze. Nicholas had no idea that Daniel and Dante were Portia’s children. And now that I’d heard his side of the story, I came to a horrifying realisation. From what I’d heard from Daniel, his father had badly influenced him and I was certain that his brother had also been subjected to his father’s influence too. And so I wondered why they’d both come to this house under the false pretence of politeness. Daniel and Dante had always been so polite to Nicholas, the man they knew had killed their mother. But why? There was something missing.

“Ariya?” Nicholas whispered, pulling me away from my thoughts.

I gazed at him a moment more, searching his curious features, and then I made the decision to say, “Daniel told me. He’s Portia’s son and so was Dante.”

Nicholas’ eyes widened and it seemed as though something had clicked in his mind.

“Then it all makes sense…” he whispered to himself.

“What does?” I asked.

Nicholas shook his head and then sighed, “Do you remember the first time we met, you asked me to keep an eye on your brother to protect him?”

I nodded.

“Well, I did and found out that he was working with Wolfsbane−” immediately I could feel the blood drain from my face and my heart began to beat erratically in my chest “−and I caught wind that Dante might have been working for them too.”

He then reached for my hand and smiled, “You don’t have to look so nervous… if I wanted to harm your brother for joining Wolfsbane, I would have done it already. The guards had already known who your brother was before he even arrived here, which was why he’s never had trouble entering the gates. As for Dante, I didn’t want to believe that he was involved with Wolfsbane, especially because you seemed to grow to care for him so much. But the day you left and got “lost” in the marketplace, it was confirmed by Lovita and Floran that Dante was, in fact, a member of Wolfsbane. I was completely furious, and I had made up my mind to fire him the next day. But then, he passed away. I thought that perhaps Wolfsbane had found out that I knew about his involvement, but if that were the case, they would have killed your brother too. I wanted to approach you and discuss your brother’s involvement in Wolfsbane, but I figured it would be best to keep him where he was. I knew that he’d keep them at bay since he always seemed to have your best interest at heart, especially since we were going to announce our engagement. However… I suspect that keeping you safe is going to be much more difficult now.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He sighed, “Theo had a suspicion that Daniel was the one who had poisoned Melissa. Although I too had become slightly suspicious, I didn’t believe that to be true, until now. I have no idea why… but Daniel wanted to get into this house, and he used Melissa to do it.”

My skin began to crawl, and my hands began to sweat. I was a little disappointed in myself. Kiyan was right, I *had* let my guilt cloud my judgement and I’d let Daniel get too close. And I too wondered why Daniel had tried to get into this house the whole time. Most of the time he spent here, he spent with me.

I then gazed at Nicholas, and when I did the feeling of relief and certainty flooded through me. There was something different in the air between us. It was new and delicate, and it stemmed from his tear-stained cheeks, his dishevelled hair and his eyes which swirled with emotion. I hated myself for doubting him, but at the same time, before today I’d hardly known enough about him for me to trust who he was and to believe in who he could be.