Read Locked in Silence: Grimm's Circle, Book 5 for Free Online Page B

he pulled it away, tossing it aside and combing his fingers through her pale, ash-brown hair. It was shorter, curly, the curls twining around his fingers like silk. It suited her, although he doubted she’d appreciate him thinking so. It made her look as young as he suspected she was. Young…and softer.
    The life she faced now was anything but soft.
    Then again, he suspected her life hadn’t been soft before this.
    She had scars, and not just the paltry ones on her face. Scars on her soul, just like him. He imagined the three, thin marks bothered her a lot, although he had seen worse—hell, he carried worse, although his own scars weren’t as visible as hers.
    Lightly, he touched her marks again, one at a time, tracing his finger down each line.
    Under his hand, she shivered and he pulled back.
    He was supposed to be seeing to her comfort—not pawing her.
     
     
    The darkness was surreal.
    Vanya didn’t think she’d ever known a darkness this complete.
    All encompassing, blacker than any night she’d ever experienced.
    But she wasn’t afraid.
    Not anymore.
    Even when the pain came and tore into her with sharp, tearing teeth.
    Because she wasn’t alone.
    He was there.
    She didn’t know who he was.
    She just knew he was there, and that his voice was there to guide her, no matter how dark it got.
    “You’re safe now, I promise.”
    “Breathe…just breathe, the pain will pass…”
    His words were like a lifeline, circling through her mind, with her no matter how deeply she dreamed, no matter how awful the nightmares became, no matter horrible the pain.
    Whoever he was, she felt safer with him than she’d ever felt. Safe, welcome…protected.
    Perhaps even wanted …
    Cared for.
    When the fever came, he had a cool cloth to stroke over her brow.
    When the dreams were the worst, his voice comforted her, murmuring to her from deep inside her mind, never, never leaving her alone.
    When the chills replaced the fever, he warmed her.
    When the darkness replaced the nightmares, he stayed by her side, reassuring her.
    She wasn’t alone.
    Not alone—
    She flung out a hand and he was there—his hand, bigger than hers, strong and ridged with scars, caught hers, held it.
    “I’m here .”.The voice in her mind was deep, dark and quiet, strong as iron and soft as velvet. “ I’m here and I will not leave you.”
    Vanya sighed. And slept.
     
     
    Then…
    “Very good!” Françoise clapped her hands and leaned over, watched as he painstakingly spelled out his name—or rather, the name they had chosen to give him. “You learn so fast. You are terribly clever.”
    He smiled at her then looked away as blood rushed up his neck, staining his cheeks red.
    The past few days with this lady had been the happiest he had known since he had been a small boy.
    Before he had made the horrid mistake of telling his mother what he could do. He had thought she’d be amazed and she’d been horrified. He’d feared letting Françoise and Louis know, but they hadn’t feared him. He couldn’t make sense of it.
    There was a sound at the door and he looked up, automatically flinching at the sight of another person. It was Louis. A man he wanted to think was his friend. A man he wanted to be his friend. Nervous, he smiled.
    Louis smiled back.
    It was a smile that made him feel warmer inside. It was a smile he liked, one he wanted to trust.
    And because he wanted to so badly, he did.
    It was a mistake that would cost him his freedom for the next ten years.
     
    He could still hear her arguing.
    “You cannot do this to him, Louis. It is not right—he trusted you!”
    “He trusts me to a point ,” Louis snapped.
    “Have you forgotten he saved our lives?”
    He huddled against the stone wall, staring out the narrow slit of a window, at the nighttime sky, wishing he was back in the forest. Away from here. Away from them, even Françoise. If he was back there, he wouldn’t be a prisoner.
    Again …
    “Have you forgotten we are at war?