Chapter 85
The blood slowly drained out of Kamilla’s face, leaving her pale as a ghost as she stared at Charming.
“What?” she whispered. “What… what do you mean?”
Charming released a heavy sigh and slowly spun
und to face her, lowering his legs over the edge of the windowsill.
Kamilla stepped forward and clutched his hand,,ing, what do you
mean?!”
He raised his gaze to her wide eyes and swallowed. “Kamilla, I don’t know if he’ll wake up again.”
Kamilla shook her head in confusion, her heart already racing with panic. “Why not?! Viktor always wakes up again. Why wouldn’t he wake up now?”
Charming frowned as he sought the right words, his hand moving in wordless gestures as he tried to explain himself. “It just…” Kamilla watched him run a frustrated hand through his hair. “I can feel the difference, you know?”
Kamilla shook her head. “No. No, I don’t know. Charming, you’re scaring me.”
Charming bit his lip and glanced out of the window behind him before slowly turning back to Kamilla again. “Did he… did he somehow find out? Viktor. Did he find out about me?”
The question hung in the air as Kamilla stared at Charming, a feeling of cold dread filling her heart. Slowly, she nodded. “Yeah. I… I told him about you like an hour ago. But he didn’t believe me and he got really angry! I was…” A shaky breath parted her lips and Kamilla clutched her trembling hands together. “What’s going on? What have I done?”
Charming watched her eyes fill and immediately stood, slowly drawing her into his arms. “It’s alright, my lady” he told her soothingly. “I’m sure it’s not what I think. I’m sure Viktor is stronger than that. He has to be.”
She lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him and Charming lifted a hand to pat her face dry. Kamilla swallowed the lump in her throat. “Why do you say he might not wake up? What’s the difference you’re feeling?”
His expression grew grave as Charming once more looked for the right words. “I can feel it. Every time before today, when I woke up, it felt like I was somehow dreaming. This feeling of existing on borrowed time was always with me. I never knew when I’d disappear. Viktor’s reappearance never came with a warning, hence the feeling of existing on borrowed time.” He frowned. “But now…”
Kamilla looked earnestly up at him. “Now?”
Charming rubbed a hand over his heart, eyebrows drawn together in a frown. “Right now, it feels strange, Kamilla. I feel so… permanent. It’s hard to explain. I don’t have that urgent desire to do whatever I want before Viktor reappears… I feel like I have decades ahead of me.”
Kamilla’s mouth was hanging open. “D… decades?”
Charming saw her rising panic and quickly shook his head. “Oh, don’t worry, my lady! Surely Viktor won’t need that much time. I really… really hope it.”
Kamilla released a heavy breath and pressed a fist against her mouth. She raised her gaze to his. “He won’t need much time for what? Why does he disappear?”
1/2
Chapter 85
A soft smile curved his lips as Charming held his hands behind his back and regarded Kamilla, the look of unbearable sadness back in his eyes. “E cape,” he told her. “I’m Viktor’s escape. He should wake up once whatever triggered it subsides in his mind. The trigger, in this case, being the sudden knowledge that I exist. I’m sorry I said he won’t ever wake up again, that was just my own fear. I should have kept it to myself as… I’ve always done in the past.”
The longsuffering acceptance in his words coupled with his sad blue eyes had Kamilla’s heart breaking. With a shaky breath, she took his hand and led him to a large sofa, seating him before she sat beside him and set her head gently on his
shoulder.
They sat silently for a moment, looking out at the dark clouds shrouding the morning sky.
“It’s going to pour,” said Charming quietly.
Kamilla swallowed the tears clogging her throat and nodded. “Yeah.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Kamilla,” said Charming. “Don’t be sad for me.”
A
His words only brought more tears to her eyes and Kamilla quickly dabbed at them with her sleeve.
Chapter Comments
3
POST COMMENT NOW
