Page 527 of Coal Hearts

The hatred inside me spilled out to include my older brother.

I knew now why I hated him so badly. Why he conjured such rage. Why I’d taken such perverse satisfaction in disowning him.

It wasn’t because I’d turned into our father.

It was because I blamed my brother for failing me.

All those days when he’d left me at that creature’s mercy.

All those moments where he turned his back and walked away.

Back then, I was trapped.

Right now, I was trapped.

I couldn’t leave.

I couldn’t stay.

Death truly was the only answer.

Chapter Seventeen

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Ily

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DOING MY BEST TO KEEP MY attention on Faiza, I listened with Mollie and Rachel. Three weeks had passed, and we’d managed to meet most days. The guards didn’t care, the cooks just rolled their eyes, and we’d made headway...but not as much as we needed to.

I rubbed at the persistent bruise in my heart. A bruise that refused to heal like the others had on my body.

Three weeks and Henri hadn’t said a damn word to me.

Each time we made eye contact, he tore his stare away.

Each time he climbed into bed, he grabbed a book with shaky hands and threw himself into the pages with feral desperation, hinting he wasn’t coping.

I’d tried to talk to him.

I’d tried to give him pieces of my past. I whispered about my dream of working with the Crown Jewels. Of my job at the Tower of London. I even told him a little about Krish and his unique, wonderful way of viewing the world.

And...nothing.

Not a peep.

He showered alone.

Dressed quickly.

And visibly exhaled in relief when afternoon rolled around, and I left to visit the jewels.

By the time I returned to him in the evening, his face held so many shadows and his eyes so many ghosts, I didn’t know how to bring him back.

He’s dying right in front of me.

“—but I did manage to get Willem to give me some slow-release fertilizer pellets so that should help, right?”