Page 31 of Unleash Hades (Ungoverned Spaces #5)

Calissandra

B reakfast was tranquil. The dining room was still white and peach, like I remembered, with floral wallpaper. The house staff had changed faces over the years, but the service was still immaculate. Just as Papa always liked it.

The summer gardens were in full bloom, the trees were full, and ripe with summer fruits.

It was as if nature itself was welcoming me back to my home. A hope I had ignored. I had tried to keep it out of Richard’s notice… Like Eleanor Aquitaine and France.

At least as portrayed in the movie A Lion in Winter. His favorite movie.

“Mummy, how long will you be gone?” Romulus asked.

“Just for the evening,” I said with a small smile. “Then I’ll be back tomorrow, for your Birthday blowout,” I said, leaning across the table to pinch him in the cheek like he was a kid.

“Stop, Mummy!” Romulus blushed and pulled from my grip.

I tried not to laugh, as his eyes darted to Bellamy, and he blushed. What kind of mother would I be if I did not try to embarrass him, even a little, in front of his crush?

“Alright, darling,” I said, with a laugh, bringing a napkin onto my lap as I broke open a crumby croissant. “Any requests for tomorrow? Or is it Mummy’s choice?”

Remus shrugged, his nose in a book. He was reading Machiavelli today.

“Maybe that bookstore we saw on the road?” Romulus suggested.

“Then what about dinner in town? There used to be a lovely French restaurant on the main street. Is it still there?” I asked Chloe.

She smiled. “Yes, it is. It used to be my favorite spot too.”

“Alright,” Romulus said with a smile. “Asa, will you come to the bookstore with us?”

Asa’s eyes lit up. “I love books!”

“I thought so,” Romulus said, bopping him on the nose with his index finger. “Well, maybe I’ll use one of my presents tomorrow to get the book of your choice.”

“A full set of the Encyclopedia Britannica?” Asa practically bounced in his seat with excitement.

“Are we sure they’re all adopted?” I asked Chloe. “I swear you made a similar request on your birthday, too.”

“No, I wanted a copy of the 1755 Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary,” Chloe corrected, pointing her butter knife at me. “That’s completely different!”

“Is it?” I asked, rubbing my chin in mock question.

The morning went much that way. Like a real family.

We went from the breakfast room, to the sitting room, where Romulus and Asa started playing on the old antique piano, as Remus kept reading his book.

I knew he grew fond of his cousin, when he came and loomed over the two, and even joined in for a duet with Asa.

Remus would never admit it, but he excelled at singing. It was his real talent.

The afternoon passed in tranquil family existence.

I was treated to the image of me and my sister, working together to raise our sons, as one family, in this house.

A life that could have been, had I not been lured in by Richard.

A life that could be again, maybe, if my plan to expose Richard worked.

If I managed to infiltrate the Underground Circuit, and show his underhanded dealings…

If my sons could forgive me, for putting away their father…

Chloe sat beside me on the leather Winchester sofa. She looked at me with her kind, golden eyes, her wild curls surrounding her like a halo.

“I’m glad you called,” she said. “What did you tell Richard?”

“I told him the truth,” I said, with a small smile. What did my sister know? What had she figured out when I had broken down in front of her outside of Philippa and George’s wedding? When I had kissed Hugo, even though Richard was just on the other side of the door? “Romulus wanted to meet you.”

Chloe smiled, letting out a breath through her nose.

She fidgeted with the watch on her wrist.

“Will you take something for me?” she asked, looking away, as she played with the clasp of her Rolex.

“What do you mean?” I was puzzled by the question.

She unclasped her watch, extending it to its maximum length, and grabbed my hand. She wrapped the accessory around my wrist, clasping it.

“It’s a watch I got as an alumni of St. Michael’s school,” she said with a smile, clasping the round face, and letting me see the embossed emblem. “I’ve worn it every day since I graduated, even when I was kidnapped.”

I marveled at the unbelievably precious item. I knew that St. Michael’s alumni - chocolatiers - wore these, but I had never seen one up close. They were like special editions; coveted.

“Will you wear it?” she asked, her eyes coming back to mine. “It would make me happy if you did.”

I smiled, placing my hand on her cheek.

“Of course, I will if you want me to.” I looked at the gold watch on my wrist, looking at the intricate band, and the classic blue face. “But it’s too precious.”I ran my fingers over the glass and read the engraving out loud, “Levavi Oculus.”

Chloe smiled, translating it for me, “ I lift my eyes up. It could mean so many things - to lift one’s eyes to God, to the Heavens, to goodness. It could also mean to lift one’s eyes up from being buried in the sand.”

I looked up at her, wondering if she was trying to wound my heart. Or was she simply stating a factoid, like she used to growing up?

“It’s the St. Michael’s School motto,” she explained. “It used to make me think of you and how you said that it was important to be good and do good.”

She looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

“I used to be mad at you,” she said, sniffling a little, as she ran her palm over her nose as if to fight away an itch. I was starting to feel a sniffle coming on too. “But I never forgot what you used to tell me. I lived by it.”

She placed her hands on my forearm, pulling my hand onto her lap.

“That’s why I want you to have it. Wear it every day, and think of me?”

“I always think of you,” I admitted, feeling the sadness take over again.

The sadness for missed goodnights, missed birthdays, and time.

She had her first period, her first kiss, lost her virginity, all without me knowing. She passed her A-levels, graduated medical school, and been kidnapped and rescued, all without me there to do what I should have been doing - being the maternal sister that she needed.

That position had been taken up by someone else, from what I heard. By Philippa Fox-Campbell. The model-philanthropist.

I envied her so much.

“Not a day has gone by where I didn’t think of you,” I said, as the tears welled on my lower lid.

Chloe nodded, swallowing lightly. “When I see you on television wearing it, then I’ll know it’s true.”

She broke my heart again.

When you are away from someone for so long, whatever rapport we had, and trust that existed between us had withered and died, like a neglected houseplant.