AllFreeNovel
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Her head tilts.
I take her by the hand and lead her down to the foyer before climbing the stairs. As soon as we’re in the safety of my bedroom, I ruffle through the sheets of my bed until my fingers land on the familiar leather.
Eloise is beside me, her eyes wide when she sees what I’m holding. “That’s not mine, but I know who it belongs to.”
I slowly hand it to her. “Can you give it back to her?”
The corners of her mouth lift weakly. “Unfortunately, no, unless I can go back in time.” Her gaze never leaves the book, holding it in her hands as if it’s the most precious thing in the world.
She notices me staring and clutches it to her chest. “I think it was my great-great-great-grandmother’s. There were other pages in it that I had read, before they were torn out and it was taken from me, but some pages were already missing when I found it.” She must see the confusion on my face, but she clears her throat. “It was left at the end of my bed my first night. I don’t know who put it there. I quickly learned whose it was because I’d heard my father talk about the history of her.”
“Of who?” I finally ask, the tone in my question gentle.
The corners of her eyes crinkle around the sadness of her smile. “Jeanne Van Hansen was her maiden name before she married into my family.”
The words spin inside my head like a washing machine as I struggle to put the pieces together.
“Wait.” There’s no way. There’s no way that the woman who wrote in that book is the very same… “You mean the woman who started the war between both of our families? You mean that’s her writing?”
Eloise lowers her head. “Yes.”
I take Eloise back to Dad and the boys, after she had said thank you one thousand times for returning the book of letters back to her. I still can’t wrap my head around it being scarily similar to the setting of the Factory, and almost identical to how Eloise was picked up, if I’m going by Vaden and Priest’s retellings of how they got her here. Coincidences don’t happen in our world. Everything happens for a reason, and I’m not so sure I want to know what this one is.
After scrubbing up in the shower, I toss my damp towel into the wash basket. I don’t know what they’re all planning to do with the information. I’d been carrying it a long time; today was another Friday for me.
My door cracks open and War steps through, eating up the space with his large body. I’ve never seen him look the way he does now. The hollow shadows of his cheeks, and the hardness of his eyes that refuse to soften until they’re on me.
His jaw twitches, before he steps inside and closes the door quietly behind himself. “The girls told me I have ten minutes with you before they’re all coming up.” His arm snakes around my back when he pulls me in close. He bends and lifts me from below my ass, until my legs have no choice but to snap around his waist.
He walks us back to my bed, lowering down and resting his hands on my outer thighs. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m really fuckin—”
I press my finger to his lips. “Stop. I don’t want that. I have been dealing with this for years, War. Years. Today is another day for me, only now, I don’t know…” My eyes drift off before coming back to his. “I also feel weightless. I hate that in order for me to feel this way, I had to burden everyone—”
A growl rolls off his chest and my brow lifts as if to say,really?“If you ever, and I mean ever, think that you are a burden to anyone, I’ll hurt you.”
“Aw.” I brush some of his short hair back. “And here I thought you were going to be gentle with me now.”
“I will be.” He winces, before darkness clouds his eyes. “But I have other ways I can punish you, all of which include you on my dick.” He cusses. “Sorry. Fuck. Tactless.”
I bend down and kiss him. “If you ever apologize for being anything other than your smartass self, I’ll hurt you.”
His lips spread in a half grin. “Oh, really?” He brushes my lips with his, biting at my bottom one. “Tell me how. Come on.We have to drop Katsia at Perdita and pick up some supplies. Give me some shit to work with.”
I sigh, using my fingers to trace the tattoo on his neck. “She has been through horrible things, but when she purposely went after you knowing who you were to me—” I shake my head.
War shifts back. “How do you mean?”
My cheeks heat and I tuck my hair behind my ear. “Well, the person I would imagine to get me through the nights that he would come in, was, well… you.” His fingers bite into my thighs. “It was the only thing that got me through. She knew. She heard me whisper your name sometimes while it was happening.”
I find War’s face and the hardness is back. He bares his teeth before his hand finds the back of my neck and he pulls me into his mouth. “I’ll meet you there, okay?” He’s struggling, just like Dad was. He tries to blanket his anger with a soothing tone, but I know what lies beneath. Enough rage that he could take out an entire village with his bare hands.
He kisses me, leaving his lips against mine a moment longer. “Can’t wait to see this island you and your pop have been fucking around with and filling with our enemies.” So Pop had filled them in. Good.
I roll my eyes and kiss him harshly. “They’re not our enemies. They’re victims. We just can’t have them near King territory.”
“We promised Hector that we’d let it run its course. I mean, fuck, we could always use another place to branch out on anyway.” He flashes me an innocent grin. “That’s why we’re all meeting you there tomorrow.” He catches my chin with his thumb and finger. “I love you.” The words hit me right in the heart as my breath hitches.
My eyes fall to the piercings on his nose, before returning. “I love you.”
