AllFreeNovel
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I’ve ordered everyone out of the brownstone, and I’m ready to see what happens when I approach my princess without any walls blocking off my heart or my soul.
The moment everyone finally scurries off, I lock the front door and practically run upstairs, only to stop a few feet away from the door to gather myself.
Quietly, I step inside.
Sophia is on the bed, laying on her stomach, feet twirling in the air, face planted in Mom’s book again.
My heart twitches.
“That was quick,” I comment.
Sophia must not have heard me come in, because she practically jumps off the bed before she sees that it’s me.
A soft smile washes over her perfect fucking face.
“What was quick?” she asks, tilting her head so that a lock of raven hair falls over her lips.
My heart twitches again, more violently this time.
“It didn’t take you long to get lost in my mom’s book again,” I clarify. “I thought it might have taken you a while to process what just happened.”
“I tried,” she sighs. “But I had too many thoughts racing through my head. This book… it’s like my safe place, even though, it’s not a place… I don’t know. I guess I’m probably not making much sense.”
Walking over to the bed, I gently sit down beside Sophia. She’s so fucking pretty. No video could ever do her justice.
“It makes perfect sense,” I tell her. “I used to feel the same way about that book. I know it’s just a dead tree sliced up and painted with symbols, but it’s always felt… warm.”
Sophia’s eyes light up. “I know, right?”
Her left hand falls from the page and I cover it with my palm. Her warmth calms me, and I feel like I can be vulnerable, if even only for a moment.
“… Even after she passed, I could still hear Mom’s voice reading to me…” I confess, remembering those dark years after the bomb went off…
Suddenly, I realize that I haven’t felt any pain in my leg for… shit, has it been days?
… And here I was thinking that all of my pain was Sophia’s fault. In reality, maybe it was my fault for denying that she could help heal me, if not physically, then at least emotionally.
“Why did you stop reading it then?” Sophia asks, her voice as gentle as any summer breeze.
“Because I grew up,” I say, with far less grace to my tone. That’s the harsh reality. “Safe places make strong men weak. I’m not allowed to be weak.”
“Never?”
Only around you.
That’s what I want to say, but not even this tender moment can make me strong enough to utter something so soft.
Instead, I quietly slip into bed next to her, laying on my back to stare up at the ceiling.
“Keep reading,” I insist, content to just lie here next to her in silence.
But Sophia is forever filled with surprises.
Sure, she goes back to reading. But it’s not to herself anymore.
It’s to me.
“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a princess…”
