Page 124 of Uprising

“Roman?” I whisper his name, fully expecting a fist to come flying at my face the way it always does when I say it out loud. Fully expecting pain. Punishment. Only it doesn’t come.

“I’m here.” He says.

“I thought…” I gulp the rest of that sentence down, registering suddenly that my child is in my arms and I don’t want her to hear what I was going to say. She’s been through enough. She’s seen enough. She doesn’t need to know about all the death and destruction that happened after she left.

And then I register the damned rings on my finger. That awful, gawdy diamond that Darius forced on me. It’s still there. Taunting me. I yank them both off like their cursed, throwing them as hard as I can and they clatters as they hit the floor.

I can hear his breathing. I know he’s staring at where they landed, we both are, as the diamond glints in the poor light.

God, it feels good to get it off. I want to smash it to pieces. I want to melt it down. To destroy it completely.

“It’s just us.” Roman says gently stroking my hair reassuringly. “The three of us.”

“And Bella.” Lara says.

I let out a giggle at her indignant tone and it helps relieve some of the tension.

“And Bella.” Roman concedes.

“Where did you find her?” I ask.

“Back at the house. We cleaned her up.” Roman says.

“And I’ve been looking after her for you mummy.” Lara says.

I can’t help the smile that creeps across my face. She sounds so proud. She sounds like the old Lara.

I sit up, looking around the strange room. There are no windows. No form of natural lighting at all. “Where are we?” I ask.

“In the tunnels under the city.” Roman replies. “We hid out here the entire time.”

“Are we still hiding here?” I ask.

Roman’s lip curls just a tiny bit. “No. We can leave. Though we should have guards just in case.”

I nod understanding his unspoken meaning. That Darius is out there. That he may well take an opportunity to attack if we let him.

“Is there some sort of kitchen down here?” I ask.

“Are you hungry?” Roman replies.

“I want cake.” Lara says and we both laugh cracking the tension that is still there, still festering.

“Breakfast would be good.” I say though I’ve no idea what the actual time is.

Roman gets out of the bed, helping Lara out. I watch the two of them, seeing that old familiar trust between them. At least that is still there. At least Darius hasn’t stolen that from us.

“I’ll give you a moment.” Roman says quietly before leading her outside.

I frown confused and then I realise what he’s getting at. That I need to get dressed. That I have to get out of these pyjamas and he’s giving me the space to change, to get dressed alone.

My arm is in a cast. My fingers have been re-strapped up. I pull the jeans and jumper on as best I can but I can’t do the zip and button up no matter how hard I try.

My face flushes with shame when I open the door. Roman is outside, combing Lara’s hair, carefully easing out a knot. He looks up at me and when our eyes meet I feel that same flip of my heart that I’ve always felt.

“I…” I swallow, feeling my cheeks burning. “I need your help.”

He tilts his head before murmuring to Lara to wait a moment and then he walks up to me.