Page 359 of Coal Hearts

It couldn’t tolerate her disgust of me when I’d done everything I could to deserve her.

I cupped her chin and tipped her eyes to mine.

She looked at me with sunshine all while I drowned in shadow.

I wanted to apologise.

I wanted to scold.

In the end, I just whispered, “Tu es en sécurité maintenant.” (You’re safe now.)

She winced and looked down.

Her lashes lowered, refusing to show me just how badly they’d damaged her.

I’d stopped him in time...yet he’d still hurt her.

Rage siphoned through me again. My vision hazed red on the edges. My humanness drowned beneath homicidal violence.

Others had put their hands on her.

Another had dared scar her soul.

The only one with that permission was me.

Me.

No one else.

Fuck!

My teeth clenched as I resisted the urge to know everything in explicit fucking detail. I needed to know what they’d done. Needed to make them pay. I’d rouse them from the dead and murder them all over again.

My fingers tightened, tightened around her jaw.

“Henri...” She flinched and grabbed my wrist. “Y-You’re hurting me.”

“Putain.” Dropping my hand, I let her bury herself into her knees. “Je suis désolé.” (I’m sorry.)

I couldn’t seem to remember English. My first language thick on my tongue.

She shook her head, not saying another word.

In her silence, other things came to my red-coated vision.

The way she quaked with a thousand shivers.

The way she moaned as if she couldn’t breathe without mournful sound escaping.

But she didn’t cry.

Her eyes were dry even as raindrops poured over her strained, stunning face.

She rattled with aftershocks; goosebumps puckered her grass-stained skin.

Without a word, I undid my shirt buttons, yanked the hem out of my trousers, and tore the soaking thing off my body. As tenderly as I could, I draped it over her trembling form. Bundling her into the wet fabric, she gave the softest whimper as I pulled her arms through the sleeves and buttoned her from throat to core.

Only once her nakedness was covered in sodden black cotton did I stand and bend over her.