Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
When she stopped speaking, he told her, “Moira, with what we have been through, with what we have shared, you must know you’ve come to mean a great deal to me. Thus, love, I can assure you that you do not need to hold back. You can say anything to me.”
She jerked her chin up like a stubborn mare and announced, “I did not encourage them to go back to their homes, or you to take them there, because I didn’t want to go back to my own.”
Teddy stood still, knowing instantly he would not like what came next.
Faunus did the same, likely knowing this too.
“My mother is dead, and my father likes his drink far more than he cares about his daughter,” she stated. “He probably doesn’t even know I’ve been gone. He probably didn’t even know I was around to be gone.”
“All right,” he said quietly when she did not continue, though as suspected, he so did not like her words, he was uncertain he wished her to continue.
“I have, for a very long time, Teddy, taken care of myself and him, even though he does not care as he loses consciousness in front of the fire without putting the screen before it and thus it is a miracle our cottage has not burnt to the ground. Or he stumbles into the kitchen and breaks the crockery that I not only have to clean up, I have to find some way to make the coin to pay to replace it. Coin he steals to buy his grog. His whiskey. Whatever he can find to erase the loss of her and the existence of me, for I am not her, but would be a daily reminder of her if he allowed himself lucidity.”
Yes, Teddy had been right.
If he would have known what was to come forth, he would not have wished her to continue.
Nevertheless, she carried on doing so.
“I wash his clothes that are always soaked with spirits and sometimes covered in his vomit. And it is…” She shook her head. “Too much. It’s just,” her voice dropped, “too much. And you…you…you took care of me. You…you…risked your life to save mine. And I have not had someone look after me, someone who cared about me in…”
She pulled her lips between her teeth and looked away.
He hated knowing this to the extent he wasn’t able to form words before she spoke again.
“And I had purpose,” she told the wall beside them. “A good purpose. I…what I did had meaning. They depended on you and me. They…you saved us, and then we kept them safe.”
“Yes,” he said softly.
“It was selfish,” she whispered.
“It wasn’t, love, they had a say. In all of it. And it was you that made that so. It was you who asked them what they wished to do and listened,” he reminded her.
She took a deep, broken breath.
“And now you will be gone, and I will have to go back to him and that life and…” She again gave him her gaze. “It is just that, I will miss you.”
“No, you will not,” Faunus decreed.
Her body jerked, her eyes narrowed, and so did Teddy’s as he swung them up to Faunus.
“Faunus,” he hissed.
“She will not, for she’s coming home with us.”
Teddy again stood still.
Faunus cast his gaze Moira’s way. “Saturn wishes you in his bed.”
“Faunus!” Teddy bit.
Faunus looked down at him. “He does.”
“Stop speaking,” Teddy demanded.
He did not stop speaking.
He turned again to Moira and declared, “That is your decision, your desire to take him or not. He is randy and he is lusty, and I see this in you as well. If you were to accept him, you would be a good pairing. But if you do not, that is your choice and it does not affect our plans. You will come home. To Firenze. Where it is warm and where you will know affection and respect. You will be Teddy’s sister. He will see to you. Through Teddy, you will be my sister, and I will see to you as well. And you will be Nyx’s sister, most likely, for she has a bent to adopt the Dellish.”
Slowly, Teddy turned to Moira to see she was gazing up at Faunus with her lips parted.
“It’s true,” he said, and her eyes skittered to him. “I do not have much. I am a teacher. I had not quite settled my life there, but I intend to find a dwelling, and if you come with us, I will just find one that has room for you.”
“You would…you would…” she stammered.
“Of course I would,” he said.
Tears sprang in her eyes.
“Oh, poppet, come here,” he murmured.
She did, falling into his arms.
He closed them around her tightly.
She sobbed into his neck.
At that, Faunus’s arms closed around both of them tightly.
She sobbed again.