Jack nodded. ‘Isn’t it better that I see it every day on you, rather than have it stowed away at the bottom of my bag?’
How could I argue with him? I didn’t know how to say thank you. Instead, I showed Jack my thanks. Reaching for him, I took his collar in my hands and pulled him closer.
I felt the smile on Jack’s mouth as I kissed him gently. He enveloped me in his long arms, and I felt safe.
His lips trailed towards my throat, and his teeth grazed the sensitive skin of my neck. I felt my body begin to burn; yet Jack did not protest. He was like a moth to a flame.
I could hear my own heart, beating like a drum against my ribcage. It was so loud, I was sure Jack could hear it. He curled his fingers through my hair. He wanted to be closer.
The colour rose in my cheeks as I reached for Jack’s shirt, fumbling with the buttons, but his fingers wrapped around my wrist, hindering my progress.
After shaking his head, Jack kissed me again, his hand returning to my waist.
Unperturbed, I tried to unfasten the buttons on the front of my dress, but Jack broke the kiss, his face shiny with sweat. My core temperature had become extremely warm.
‘You’re driving my crazy, Red,’ he said. ‘A man can only say no so many times.’
‘You don’t have to say no,’ I told him.
He took a deep breath and leaned away from me, flopping backwards on the bed and looking up at the blackened ceiling.
I was a little bit embarrassed. Things had become heated between the two of us a number of times, but he always put a stop to it. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Grateful, but frustrated at the same time.
Jack broke the awkward silence. ‘So, what do you want to do for your birthday?’ he asked.
‘I was going to do some more work with Helena-’ I began, yet stopped when Jack shot me a troubled look. ‘What?’
‘I don’t think you should do that today,’ he said.
‘Why not?’
He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. ‘I want you to have a perfect day,’ he said. ‘You always get so upset after a session with your sister-’
‘I can’t stop now, not after all the progress she has made.’
Jack looked at me sadly, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was under the impression that Helena had not made any progress in the last two months. He thought I was imagining it, yet he didn’t dare say those words aloud.
But he hadn’t seen the way she’d looked at me with those large, hazel eyes, speaking so many things that were unable to be said. Helena had yet to utter a single word since we had brought her home. Worse still, she didn’t seem to recognise her family.
She was a shell. An empty husk.
Helena was a human, taken away by the Realm to have her memories erased. Jack and I had travelled to the other side of the country to get her back from the slaver, Martinez, who had bought her.
Now we had her safe with us, but the damage was apparent. Helena could not speak. She could not write, read, or communicate in any way.
What she could do, however, was eat and clean. If a meal was placed in front of her, she would consume it greedily with her hands, as though it might be taken away from her at any moment. It was clear she'd had to fight for her food while being kept in the dungeons.
The chore of cleaning had been embedded into her mind by the slavers. If there was a mess, she would clean it automatically, almost as if she were a robot.
This really upset my parents, and was also the reason Hawthorne was not welcome inside the house. He dropped so much fur and feathers, that it sent Helena into a cleaning frenzy. She would try to clean, scrub, and polish every inch of our little wooden house until her hands were red raw and bleeding. As a result, we were forced to confine Helena to bed rest.
Every day, I worked with Helena, trying to get her to remember something … anything about her past life.
I tried teaching her words, and names, but she never spoke. Instead, she would stare at me vacantly.
However, there had been one occasion where I would swear on my life that she had spoken.
It was whilst my back was turned, so I didn’t see her mouth form the word, but I was sure she had breathed, ‘Ava’.
But Jack and my parents didn’t believe me, and I couldn’t get Helena to say it again.
I was forced to conclude that I had been imagining things.
‘Let’s do something fun,’ said Jack, sitting up and taking my hand. ‘You haven’t ridden Hawthorne in a while.’
I grunted, nonchalant. Hawthorne had been acting strange lately. He had been suspiciously aloof and distant since we had returned to Mortlock. I assumed he was bored of the relaxed lifestyle this town offered. I was sure Hawthorne was used to always being on the move.
The fact of the matter was, Hawthorne was spending increasing amounts of time away from me, wandering the forest, and doing goodness knows what. His disinterest in spending time with me was rather disheartening. But at least I had Jack for company.