Page 20 of Petals and Strings (Broken Melodies #1)

Chapter Sixteen

Kane

M y eyes stayed locked on the portrait I’d painted yet again. The features had morphed from before, as if two people were melding together on the page.

I could easily tell where the line was drawn. Audrey’s features were melding with hers .

The lady that plagued my nightmares and dreams.

Her face wouldn't leave me.

Yet, Audrey seems to chase them away.

Maybe it was our proximity or the way her omega scent surrounded me like a protective blanket, but she was starting to wake me up out of this half-life I’d been living in.

The nightmares were worse now, but the days were better.

I felt more like… me.

It was like meeting a new person. I started to remember small facts about myself, little nuances that had been lost to time.

I used to love watching movies and taking hikes. Being active and playing sports through school kept me out of the house, something that was… important. Though, I wasn't sure why.

That line of memories, apparently, wasn’t ready yet. Maybe I didn’t even want to know. Because I knew as well as anyone here, that not every memory was a good one.

The art therapy teacher said something but I had to move away. I was up on my feet and out the door, ignoring her protests.

My new meds made me jittery. It felt like there was a buzzing under my skin, rolling through me constantly and making me have to fidget or move.

I fucking hated it.

Evening was descending on ARC, lining the already dim halls with even more shadows.

The only one that was spared was the atrium that stayed lit as night nurses settled in.

Movement to the side had me stopping, the flash of blonde hair disappearing into the conservatory.

For a moment I stood there, debating. Then I found myself following her, winding through a group of nurses, pausing at the door like I was dazed, listening in when they mentioned the missing girl.

“She wouldn’t just walk away, she had to have help,” one of the nurses said as she tapped away at the keyboard of her laptop, perched on the edge of the nurses’ station.

“Someone inside?” another gasped in shock.

“I’d put money on the therapist. He’s a bit too involved if you ask me,” another huffed. Though, a bit of jealousy was slipping through.

“That’s because he stopped sniffing around you,” another snorted, the talk quickly shifting into their sex lives, something I wanted no part of.

The conservatory was humid, but quiet, when I entered. An unfamiliar calm fell over me as I let the door close out the rest of the facility.

I stood for a moment, soaking in the quiet and the scent of blooming flowers and fresh dirt.

Then it started.

Just a soft slide of the bow over the strings, an enticing note that had me perking up, glancing around for the source.

My feet carried me of their own accord, winding through the pathways until I reached the back wall.

She was ethereal. Her eyes closed, bow sliding gently over the strings like a caress, hair in waves around her and a backdrop of glass and the stars beyond.

Beautiful.

Movement across the room had me turning, spotting Rydell hiding behind leaves. He was off far enough she couldn’t scent him, but the dark plum of his natural scent was reaching for her, filtering in the air and winding around the petals surrounding us.

My scent had done the same, a hint of parchment, pear, and Earl Grey tea winding around the leaves, desperate to be close to her.

The song continued on as she sat there, oblivious of the audience she kept. Her attention was turned inward, and I was glad Rydell was here to keep her safe. ARC wasn’t perfect, and after the angry run-in with Theo during the lock down, I wanted her nowhere near him again.

A memory teased at the edges, a feeling of panic and hurt trying to escape. I let my eyes close, too, the music lulling me into a trance as I grasped at straws to try to remember.

It was the woman, her face. She was looking at me in a way that said she wanted to break news that I wouldn’t like. As if she expected me to shatter.

Maybe I did? I certainly couldn’t remember anything but I’d ended up here in the end, hadn’t I?

The memory didn’t budge. Nothing filtered in that would give me answers, but it was more than I’d gotten before.

Why now?