Chapter 78 Friend
Heaven didn’t leave her room. Not for breakfast. Not for Boyle’s altar.
Not even when the housemaids knocked endlessly at her door. She stayed curled on the bed, staring at the wall, drained and empty.
The door flew open without a knock.
Eleanor Richard stood there like a dark omen, her silhouette framed against the light, cold and merciless. A grim reaper in designer clothing.
“You’ve become so relaxed,” she hissed, “that you’ve forgotten your responsibilities as my son’s widow.”
Heaven instantly sat upright, hands folded in her lap.
“I’m sorry, Mother,” she said softly.
“You should be sorry to your husband.” Eleanor pressed her palm to her chest dramatically.
“Boyle came to me in a dream last night…crying. Crying.”
She gasped, shaking her head.
“And I realized he hasn’t been resting in peace. When last did you light his candles?”
Heaven blinked, mentally searching, guilt clawing at her.
“When last,” Eleanor continued, voice rising, “did you bow before his altar and pray for his soul to rest?”
Heaven slowly slid off the bed. Like a puppet with invisible strings, she moved toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Eleanor demanded, looking down at her as if she were filth.
“To… light my husband’s candles,” Heaven whispered.
“And pray for his soul.”
“You cannot go near his soul,” Eleanor snapped, stepping forward, “when your heart is tainted with evil.”
Heaven froze.
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“If Eva loses the baby in her womb,” she said calmly too calmly…you will have me to contend with.”
Something twisted painfully inside Heaven’s chest.
Her breath hitched. Her eyes trembled. Baby? Pregnant?
Her fingers went cold. Then Eleanor added, almost lazily,
“Just pray she isn’t pregnant…”
Heaven exhaled shakily, a sharp, secret relief washing through her. Her knees nearly buckled from how badly she needed that reassurance.
Eleanor watched her reaction with silent judgment before continuing:
“As I was saying…” she raised her chin “you need cleansing. You will go to the temple and have the monks perform ritual purification on you. Only then will you be allowed to step foot into my son’s altar.”
Heaven swallowed.
“Do that,” Eleanor finished sharply,
“and be useful for the amount I paid for you before I start regretting the purchase.”
She turned on her heel and walked out, slamming the door behind her. Heaven stood alone,her throat tight, her heart aching…
\~~~~~~~~~~~~
The temple stood on a hill, surrounded by whispering pines and drifting incense smoke. The air was cold, still, almost sacred. Heaven knelt before the monks, her palms flat against the cold stone, her head bowed as they chanted over bowls of burning herbs. Her mother-in-law had arranged this, of course she had.
“Release what taints your soul,” one monk murmured.
A second monk struck her lightly with a bundle of leaves.
“Release what taints your body.”
A third followed.
“Release what taints your mind.”
If only she could.
If only she could strip away everything her guilt, her confusion, her secrets, him.
What she wanted was peace. Just one moment of it.
“Be purified! Be purified! Be purified!” they chorused before tipping a bowl over her head, water thick with herbs cascading down her skin.
Cold. Sharp. Punishing.
She left the temple with her head lowered, shoulders soaked, hair dripping. Luckily, she had brought a change of clothes. She changed quickly and wandered through the streets without any sense of direction she just wanted to disappear.
She didn’t get far. “Heaven?” She froze. Slowly… she turned.
Adrian.
Her childhood friend. The boy who once shielded her from her parents’ cruelty. The only person who ever made her laugh during those suffocating years in the Kalabora mansion… before he vanished.
He stared at her with disbelief and a hurt softness that struck something deep in her.
“Heaven… it’s really you.”
“Adrian…” she whispered.
Minutes later, she found herself sitting inside a small café, steam rising from the coffee untouched in front of her.
She forced out,trying to make the silence less awkward “When did you get back?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he studied her the tiredness in her eyes, the weight on her shoulders.
“I heard,” he finally said quietly, “that you were married off to a rich family. Sold off like property. And then made a widow.” His jaw tightened. “I didn’t want to believe it.”
Her fingers curled around the cup.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds.”
“Heaven.”
His voice was sharper now, pained.
“Don’t lie. I know you better than anyone. You’re sitting in front of me and you haven’t smiled once. That tells me everything.”
She looked down.
He reached across the table instinctively, his warm fingers brushing over her cold ones.
“You don’t belong with people like them,” he whispered.
“Come with me. Right now. Let’s just leave. I’ll take you anywhere…”
Heaven pulled back instantly.
“Adrian, stop. Please. You don’t understand.”
But he caught her hand again tighter this time, desperate.
“I’m not letting them ruin your life,” he said, voice cracking.
“You’re too young to be a widow. Too good to live like this. Heaven… run away with me.”
“My parents…”
“Your parents?” he snapped softly.
“They never cared about you. They are enjoying the wealth they sold you off for...”
His thumb stroked her hand in a way that was too intimate, too familiar, too comforting. Tears slipped down Heaven’s cheeks before she could stop them.
Adrian stood abruptly, moved around the small table, and gathered her into his arms. His hand slid through her hair in long, soothing strokes just like he used to when they were children hiding under staircases.
“It’s okay,” he murmured against her ear. “I know a seaport company. They can get you out of the country tonight. Heaven, let me save you…”
“Heaven.”
Her entire body went cold as she heard a very familiar voice.
She ripped herself out of Adrian’s arms and turned so fast her head spun.
Maverick stood at the entrance of the café.
Hands in his pockets. Even though he had called her name his eyes were not on her. It was on Adrian.
His entire frame was coiled like a predator seconds before the kill. His jaw ticked violently. His eyes,Gods, his eyes weren’t just angry.
They were deadly.
If death could take form, it would look like him standing there and Adrian would already be a corpse if looks alone could kill.
Heaven’s heart plummeted.
“M… Maverick…”
She didn’t know how to breathe.
Didn’t know how to think.
Oh God.
Shit. Shit. Shit