Page 41 of A Winter Redemption
“You’re my brother, and I love you,” Bradley said over and over. “Of course I want you to be well. Of course I don’t want you to die from nymph sickness. Of course we’ll leave for the mountains soon. We just need a bit more money.”
They always just needed a bit more money.
It all came to an end quite suddenly.
He entered the second-storey window of a large house. A shadow rose in the darkness. Someone had been asleep on an armchair, and the window opening had woken him. The large man grabbed Ketho’s hands, digging into his skin. The man yelled, waking the household.
They fought, the man smashing his large fists into Ketho. Ketho screamed out in pain, kicking at the man, scratching at him. He managed to twist free. He scrambled to the window and jumped. He cried out as he hit the ground heavily.
But before he had time to get up, someone grabbed him. And there were more someones grabbing him and holding him down. He fought against them. They kicked him in the ribs and stomach.
Tears in his eyes, he looked up, just in time to see his brother and his friends running away.
“Bradley!” Ketho screamed.
But Bradley didn’t turn back. Didn’t even glance at his little brother lying sobbing and trapped on the cold, dirty ground.
Still, Ketho thought his brother would save him. He thought it sitting inside the cart that picked him up and took him away. He thought it sitting in a cell. He thought it as the judge looked down at him and sneered, sentencing him to three months’ hard labour.
He almost died during that sentence. The nymph sickness got so bad. The work was so hard.
And during that time, he confronted the truth. A truth he’d known deep down for a long time. His brother had manipulated him. Bradley had never intended to leave Bordertown and his friends. He’d lied to Ketho. After all, why would he leave when he had someone who could steal for him and line his pockets so well?
Bradley had used Ketho’s love against him. Used it to bind Ketho to him. Used it to make Ketho do things he feared. Ketho’s love had given Bradley power over him.
So when Ketho was released, damaged in body and soul, he answered the call he’d heard his entire life. A call he’d never answered. He walked towards the mountains and left Bordertown behind.
He’d vowed to never return. He’d vowed to never trust. He’d vowed to never love. He’d vowed to never let anyone have power over him. Never again.
Because he knew what love meant. Love meant binding yourself to someone. Love meant giving someone power over you. The power to use you. To manipulate you. To make you do things you didn’t want to do.
Ketho turned away from the window and stared at Jarne, still asleep in the bed. He held his breath until it hurt. He couldn’t break those vows. He just couldn’t. His fear wouldn’t allow him to. Even now, he felt a desperate urge to run and flee.
Ketho packed his bag and returned to the window, staring out across the village. The embers in the hearth died away. Slowly the sky lightened. Lights appeared in cabin windows as the villagers lit their fires and started their day. People trod the snow-covered path.
“Ketho?” Jarne’s sleepy voice asked.
Ketho fixed his face in place and turned, smiling calmly.
Jarne stared at him. “Everything all right?”
“Of course,” Ketho said. “But I’m going to go.”
Jarne sat up, eyes suddenly alert. “What?” He saw the packed rucksack beside Ketho. “Now?”
Ketho ignored the distress in Jarne’s voice. “Yes.”
“When will you be back?” Jarne asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“You will come back, right?” Jarne asked, a vulnerability to the question that cut Ketho to the core.
Ketho wanted to say he wouldn’t return. That was what he’d planned. But as he gazed into Jarne’s eyes, he said instead, “I’ll be back before the Solstice.”
Ketho cursed himself.This is how it starts. This is how you start bending your will to someone else’s. This is how you allow someone to control you.
He had to leave. Now.