A Beast in Paradise by Cécile Coulon

Author:Cécile Coulon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 2020-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

Gabriel’s bed was like Gabriel himself: messy, but comfortable. Now that she was in the habit of spending her nights there, Aurore realized that she wouldn’t be able to heal Gabriel, that a sort of black tree had taken root inside him in early childhood, a tree watered with fury by his parents’ deaths. She couldn’t cut it down, only lop off a few boughs when they became too heavy. She cared for the tree, caressed it with her words and her smile, shook it so that the dead leaves and poisoned fruit fell from his soul.

“Aurore?”

She grunted. The day had been a long one. Her clothes still smelled like onion and boiled potato.

“Why has Alexandre come back?”

She raised herself up on an elbow, eyes half-closed, the folds in the sheet imprinted on her cheek.

“Aurore, what do you know about him?”

She pulled herself into a sitting position, crossing her legs. Gabriel had perched on the side of the bed.

“I told you everything my dad told me,” she sighed. “Alexandre made a fortune in New Zealand. His parents are very proud.”

Gabriel’s gaze was fixed on her mouth, searching the movements of her lips for a word she refused to say aloud.

“I just want to try to understand why.”

“Why what?”

“Why he came back.”

Aurore leaned back against the pillow.

“His father says he’s going to buy the land behind their house; he’s going to buy the whole village . . . ”

Gabriel pictured the horrible little street where Alexandre’s parents lived. The hectares of land behind it.

“What’s he going to do with it?”

She leaped out of bed, lightly.

“I can’t stand this onion smell anymore.”

Aurore came around the bed and knelt down in front of Gabriel.

“I really don’t know anything about it, Gabriel. I don’t know Alexandre. I don’t know why he came back.”

Then, before he could say a word, she pressed a finger to his lips.

“You’re worried for your sister. But there’s nothing you can do.”

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