Chapter 50
Of course, I did not perish in that prison cell back then, as I am still here. But I came perilously close. It is almost laughable how often I have found myself standing at death's threshold, only for my wretched soul to cling stubbornly to this battered body, refusing to be cast away.
As it happened, I was not dead. I was merely lost in the abyss of unconsciousness for what must have been an eternity. After enduring unspeakable torment through that cruel winter, I had long since lost my grasp on time. When I finally stirred from the depths of oblivion, it was the middle of spring.
Not that I had awoken of my own accord. No, I had no desire to wake at first.
I have heard such tales before, those odd accounts of souls who brushed the edge of death and returned, speaking of lights and voices not of this world. Whether mine was born of fever or some unearthly truth, I cannot say. But I remember it.
There was light. Brilliant, vast, almost cruel in its beauty. It stood before me, open and waiting. And within it, I heard Millicent, her voice trembling. She was calling to me. Whispering for me to open my eyes.
How utterly insufferable.
Her desperate voice that was far too near grated against my every raw nerve. The woman I had once cherished, the one who had forsaken my pleas, who had cast me aside like refuse and left me to rot, now had the audacity to call me back. Oh, how I longed for her physical form to manifest before me, just so I could land a few well-deserved slaps upon her wretched face. But, of course, she was nowhere in sight. Her voice only propelled me toward that glowing abyss with greater urgency.
Yet, just as I was prepared to step forward and demand an audience with whatever deity was responsible for my cursed existence, another voice halted me.
Cecilia.
Soft. Gentle. Familiar.
And I hesitated.
"My Lady, when you wake, I wish to return home with you."
Her voice was near, so near, just as Millicent's had been before. My chest constricted. It had been so long since I had last heard her gentle voice, soft as a whisper yet carrying the weight of something far greater. Emotion swelled within me, raw and overwhelming. My head turned frantically, my gaze darting in every direction, desperate to find her. My heart pounded as I begged that wretched light before me to spare her. Cecilia could not be here. She must not be. She had to live. She had done nothing wrong. She was the victim. She had always been the victim.
"I want to go back to when it was only you and me," she continued. "Locked away in your father's estate. It was better then, was it not, My Lady? At least we were not in pain. We did not suffer like this."
I stilled.
We.
We did not suffer like this.
We.
A vicious, searing pain tore through my chest, so fierce it felt as though a blade had been thrust straight into my heart. Cecilia was suffering too. The realization was suffocating, unbearable. What had they done to her? What horrors had she endured? A part of me burned to know, to uncover every cruel detail so I could exact vengeance in her name. And yet, another part of me trembled at the thought, terrified that the truth would shatter me.
Cecilia's soft laughter drifted through the abyss. "Do you remember how you used to torment the new maids? You frightened them so terribly they dared not even meet your eyes. You always had that way about you… Can we go back to those days? So please, wake up, My Lady. Let us return to that time."
A painful breath shuddered from me.
"You told me I must not think of death. You said that if I ever took my own life, you would ensure yours was far worse, simply to spite me. But now you are not waking, are you, My Lady? It seems the title of the most tragic end shall be mine instead. Do you not agree?"
No.
No, no, no.
"So wake up, My Lady," Cecilia urged. "You promised to take my contract from your father. You swore you would set me free, that we would find a way to escape. You said that once we did, he would never again be able to force your hand again. You said we would run away. Somewhere far, where no one could ever find us. Just the two of us."
My heart thundered.
Damn the deities. To hell with the afterlife.
Cecilia was calling for me.
And so, with all the defiance left in my weary soul, I lifted my hand and extended my middle finger toward the wretched light before me, a final act of insolence against whatever force sought to claim me. Then I turned away.
I ran. I ran with everything I had, plunging headfirst into the abyss, deeper and deeper. In an instant, the light was gone. Nothing remained but endless darkness. And then my eyes snapped open. The world swam back into focus. To my utter dismay, I was not met with large, gentle black eyes. No, what greeted me instead were trembling crimson ones, glistening with emotion.