The Onyx Door: The Luella Winthrop Trilogy, #3 by Kenneth A. Baldwin

Author:Kenneth A. Baldwin
Format: epub

21

CYRUS

Iwas a miserable mess by the time I arrived. I fumed through the streets, my mind a dizzying destructive cycle. Thankfully, Mrs. Crow had gone out.

I was furious with Bram and all the guiltier for it. How could I accept the blame after learning he planned to step forward in my place before I’d asked him? Nevertheless, I’d still taken away his escape route in the prison. Was I not still at fault?

What haunted me more was the bleak, blunt understanding that Bram and I had different objectives. I saw him in my mind, encased in chains, all the while protesting that he could not live without magic. What about safety? What about me?

That was Bram, though, wasn’t it? He’d never be content unless he was working out a new theory, making a new trinket, or thirsting for deeper magical knowledge.

Since the magic had left me, I’d longed for it. I couldn’t deny that it was beautiful, but it was beautiful like stars were beautiful. I was happy to admire them from a distance. Bram wanted to control the stars. He wanted to make his own.

I threw my purse onto the table. The trinkets spilled out. The rubber ball I’d so stupidly thought was a magical artifact fell on the floor with a gentle bounce. Cyrus poked his head up with more excitement than I’d seen from him in weeks. He padded over and collected it in his mouth.

Whatever glimmer of hope Edward and Alastair had woken inside of me had been smothered like the embers of a small cooking fire. I wanted to slap Bram and wake up his sense of vitality. I wanted to shake the fate destined martyr idea right out of his head. I wanted him to consider the beauty offered by a normal life without magic.

Cyrus nudged my hand with his nose, urging me to play. I waved him off, but he persisted.

I tossed it into Mrs. Crow’s room and slumped into a chair. If Bram didn’t care, why should I? This house had been my prison for weeks. I was a free woman now, wasn’t I?

Cyrus returned, begging me to throw the ball again.

“Stop it, Cyrus! Get out of here!” I took the ball, opened the front door, and threw it as hard as I could down the street. The dog went chasing after, not caring in the slightest that I slammed the door behind him.

My goals had been simple: rescue Bram, rescue Charlotte. What was I supposed to do if Bram refused help? He’d said he loved me. Perhaps he did, just not as much as the magic.

I choked back thoughts of my conversation with my father. He too had left in the end, claiming it was for my benefit. They didn’t know. Those who leave don’t know how hard it is to remain.

Cyrus barked outside. I ignored him, but soon he was scratching at the door and barking louder. The neighbors would be furious before long. Cyrus and Mrs. Crow had become best friends.

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