Page 23 of Heartless Heathens

“Dies Irae old man. Time to answer for your transgressions,” he shouted, tugging the rope hard enough to pull me forward, spilling me onto my hands and knees.

A few nuns made their way outside to better see the commotion up close, and students slowly congregated at the front of the dormitory. Father Frollo’s eyes widened in recognition at the sight of me but he quickly schooled his expression to mask any sort of acknowledgement that would give him away.

I had my answer without a single word being uttered.

The wolves were at his door, and he would not sacrifice a single scratch on his skin to keep me safe.

“I do not know what you speak of boy, end this foolishness now. Back to your rooms, everyone,” he shouted from the balcony and the boy named Santorini threw the rope down at my body.

“You refuse to claim her?” He sneered at him.

“Preposterous. Claim her as what? Back to your rooms! All of you! This madness ends now, how dare you call upon me in the middle of the night like this.” Frollo denied any connection to me, cutting a sharp pain into my chest from his betrayal.

“This isn’t your pet then? You deny sending her to spy on my brothers and me? You deny sending her into our home?” The anger in his voice let me know he held no reservations about mistreating someone he believed to be a threat to him.

That much was clear.

“This is no student of mine. Let us call the police and have her taken away for trespassing. This stray must be a long way from home. Off to bed everyone, nothing to see here,” he called out again as he pulled out a phone.

“If you think you can make this go away by denying your sins, you have another thing coming, Archbishop. I’m going to make you sit through confession before I bury you in a grave so deep even your ghost won’t come back to haunt us,” he spat out before beckoning Felix over with a tilt of his chin towards me.

“Youwillregret threatening me, boy,” Father Frollo yelled, more of his own fear slipping out through his false bravado.

“I’d love to see it,” he challenged him from far below. “Call off your police swine, I’ll deal with the girl myself.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Frollo asked with outrage.

“It means, if you won’t claim her as your pet, then I’ll be making her mine. I hope you haven’t entrusted too many secrets to her, she’ll be screaming them all out with my cock in between her legs.” He smirked, turning his back to Father Frollo and walking back in the other direction.

“I will not allow illegal vagabonds to take up space in my campus. I will send her to the poorhouses immediately.” My stomach sank and I felt the world uncontrollably spinning underneath me.

He would do it. He would send me away to clear anything that would link me back to him if it kept his name untarnished.

“She’s not your problem anymore old man. If it’s legitimacy you want I’ll have my people send you her registration papers by morning. I’m sure the church board will make an exception for her once they see who will pay her tuition. I’ll make you regret every lie you’ve spilled from that venomous mouth of yours yet,” the blue-eyed heathen said without looking back.

The crowd of students was now circling us and looking up at their headmaster in confusion. Felix gave me a sympathetic look before pulling me up by my underarms, but in a quick move he slung me over his shoulders. We walked about halfway back to the chapel before he set me back down on the ground. I looked around and noticed the darker haired one was already out of sight, nowhere to be found.

“Sonny is probably already back at the chapel,” he explained, practically reading my thoughts before I had a chance to fully form them myself. “Have you been crying?” he asked, his thumb grazing the outside corners of my eyes where the tears would pool together before gravity took them from my face.

“Why do you care?” I turned my face away, unsure why I even said that.

I felt hollow.

As empty on the inside as I was alone out here in the real world.

What was it about me that was so unlovable? Why was there no one who would stand by my side and claim me as theirs?

He sighed, kneeling in front of me and wiping the remnants of the tears from my eyes before pressing his lips to the top of my head. He took the ropes off of me, unwinding them before wrapping them around his own arms.

“I can carry you the rest of the way if your feet hurt,” he offered but I shook my head, unsure if I wanted to owe him anything.

That was the only thing I truly knew about the way the world worked.

Every charity had a price, every action needed payment.

There was no kindness Claüde Frollo had ever done that didn’t require some sort of recompense from me. If the headmaster was a servant of God, what would it mean if I was indebted to men whose souls belonged to the Devil?

No, I walked the rest of the mile pretending each step that the rocks weren’t cutting into my heels or that the dirt wasn’t burning the freshly made blisters. He followed behind me, making sure to pace himself slow enough so that I didn’t need to rush. Maybe he wasn’t that thoughtful, maybe it was just his gait.