The Little Dove #2 ✔️

65. Tsuen Imperfections

CHAPTER 65: Tsuen Imperfections

I stared out into the snow, the window was closed against my desire to step out and cherish the cold the way I knew how...shattering my bones, but my heart desired the ice-cold teeth biting and nipping at my toes. All while my mind runs marathons on the revelation of Kenji's involvement with the institute and Forthright's death. I could not make sense of either. the murder of Forthright shouldn't have penetrated me so, let alone made me mourn him, even a little.

I couldn't deny nor confirm whether I feel he meant well in the way he handled things with me. The way he handled those cases and my own involvement, he scared me to the point where I believed he was the killer.

I never had the time to speak with Forthright about what he found, why he did what he did, and acted the way he did around me. His love cannot have been so strong as to do what he did. The way he tried to protect me is what creeped me out more. Edmund lied, but his love for me isn't that of a lie. I can see that clearly as he turned me from the conflicting reflection of my pale and concerned face from the window and turned me up towards him. Our height difference made it difficult for him to lean his forehead so easily against mine, so he wasted no time lifting me to wrap my legs around his torso.

I curl my fingers around his neck, "This is too much at once." I whisper to him, swallowing.

"Which is why I want you to talk to me." He murmurs in earnest.

I close my eyes, "I just don't know what to think anymore. What Kenji did...and Forthright. I should have spoken with him. I just... I hated the way I felt around him." I whisper in defeat.

He stiffens, "Felt?" He whispers with a masked expression.

I lean back and scale his silver eyes, "Fear, Edmund. I masked it for so long, but I was terrified of him. I thought he was trying to take advantage of me, I despised how he looked at me, I gutted ever being in his presence, and I hated that I couldn't stand on my own when I shouldn't have leaned on you so much to keep Forthright away. I'm not saying I'm not thankful that you were there when I felt sick to my stomach just looking at him. I wanted a strength that was built on independence....sole independence." I whisper, confessing what I've held in for almost ten months.

His masked expression fades into something else, "You were...afraid of him?"

I lean my arms on his broad shoulders as he mindlessly stops his swaying, holding one arm underneath me and the other smoothing against the small of my back; I close my eyes, "I thought he hurt Bella, Stella, Corinne...even Charlize...and I thought he was going to do the same to me, Edmund. Did you sense he was too forward with me during those compulsory sessions on the first day you showed me around? Too open, too charming?" I ask him, trailing my eyes past his sharp nose and towards those eyes that swirl dangerous thoughts back to when we made love by my fireplace back at the academy, such a predatory mane yet a gentle caress and a claim in his mind.

He squeezes his eyes shut, "He acted pedophilic, and that's what triggered..." He trails off, taking a deep breath and softly swaying us with me still flushed to his chest and in his arms. It was lulling me to sleep even during such a serious conversation.

He sighs in defeat, "I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. The signs were there, but I wasn't seeing them, and I should have." He whispers.

I hold him tighter, "That's not what I am getting at, Edmund. You were there for me as you are now. As you said, we-as a couple-were merely hitting an obstacle in our relationship that we have overcome. Though...I do ask that you tone down your possessive tendencies." I giggle as he quirks a raised eyebrow, pausing in his swaying.

He looks up and laughs, "I thought you liked such possessive qualities of mine? It certainly turns you into a minx in the bedroom, lemon." He chuckles, staring down at me knowingly as I gape up at him.