Passion is the Divide Between Hunger and Need: A Tears of Shame Novel

Chapter 27: Tortured Memories

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Recap chap 26:

Lia

I knew I couldn’t have done anything at all to stop her plans or prove that she had threatened both my dad and Ezra. If I had, I would have ruined my dad’s relationship with his new psychotic wife, not that I thought he would have believed me anyway. Also I would have compromised Ezra’s safety and that was the last thing I wanted to have done.

I loved him more than anything and if it meant I had to hurt him to save him, then I guess that was what I had to do.

Ezra

"Heed my words boy. You have one month to break her heart, destroy her, and sending her running into her fiancé’s arms. If you don't, she's dead." He snarled darkly, which only added to the tenseness of the situation.

Those two painful words 'she’s dead' were the last to hit my ears before a sharp pain ripped through the back of my skull and I succumbed to blackness.

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Chapter 27: Tortured Memories

Xavier POV

Never in all my years had circumstances taken such a dramatic turn. One day, everything had returned to normal, and the next all hell’s fury was unleashed upon us. I had no idea what had happened or why, but what I had known for certain was that everything revolved around Lia. In the past week since discovering the truth about her biological grandfather, Lazarus, until our meeting with him earlier today, things seemed ordinary and easy.

But I should have known that nothing that concerned Lia or her mother for that matter, was ever ordinary or easy.

I sat across from my daughter and surveyed her for signs of distress but none had been found. She was as calm as usual, but something was off about her demeanor. It was subtle but a father could always tell when something bothered his child. Her magnificent eyes hadn't held the same fire as usual and her once radiant smile seemed almost forced. It was as though she were dying a slow death, but had put on a brave face so that others hadn't been alarmed by her misery and pain.

I looked to Ronan and saw that he studied her as well, trying as I was no doubt, to have understood her sudden albeit subtle change. He seemed as perplexed as I, which showed in his dim violet eyes as he threw me a look of confused understanding. She was always a puzzle, so like my precious Aria, that it was eerily comforting but at the same time painfully alarming.

Lianna sat like a statue, with an unreadable yet interesting expression on her face. One that seemed as though she was content to face a firing squad, and accept her death, yet at the same time was afraid to face it. She was like stone with one hand that gripped Ezra's for support, while the other clutched a faded and tattered letter. We had all been in this position before, right along beside her, as she prepared to learn her fate perhaps or more likely learn the final secrets of her past, her mother's past.

Lazarus had just excused himself from our all important meeting, leaving the key letter behind. The meeting was to have taken place a few days after Lia came to us, but circumstances being as they were, it was best to push the meeting back a few weeks. With the discovery of Stefan's body on the palace grounds, Lia needed the extra time to properly mourn her grandfather. She loved him dearly and he meant everything to her.

It was a gruesome and horrific discovery that was both shocking and saddening. What remained of his body was barely identifiable were it not for the fact that the body was in possession of a royal symbol which I had bestowed upon Stefan myself when I was crowned King. This was the main identifier, other than his familiar scent, which I was most accustomed to after so many years of being in contact with him after Aria’s death and throughout Lia’s childhood.