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It didn’t look like it belonged in this century Just like the house constructed around it, there was so inhabitable
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as Fox inserted a key and pushed open the door The only door without a keypad lock
He looked back, his grey-white eyes delving into e gloith pain
I wanted to take him up on the offer I wasn’t ready I didn’t think I would ever be ready for what he wanted to show ive hied with each other, terrified at knowing, horrified at what he had to say But mostly petrified of the decision I would have to make
Clara darted inside--no fear or residual surprise hat happened in his office A brief exclale "It’s like a cave No, it’s like a prison cell" She turned to me "Remember? Those pictures you showedthe crown and all the Queen’sfrom the walls and the horrible items they used to make the poor men tell the truth? It looks like that"
My heart stopped beating as I ht The space looked like a dungeon--fit only for allows
Fox snorted beforeabove work tables, tool benches, and paraphernalia The light helped dispel soinal cell appeal, but the walls were damp, the floor unfinished and compacted with earth
The sharp metallic scent of bronze and lifeless e fire, and the cold dirt around us, the scent reed in the black decadent roo so a life in this sort of environ old-fashioned bellows, and eyeing up twowith hammers and odd bits of discardedoff the corner of a table Fox spun to lock gazes with e I used on you It seelint of silver around my throat I still wore the star bracelets he’d made The centre piece that secured my wrists to the belly chain had disappeared into his pocket never to be seen again
"You were never the danger It was me I should’ve been the one to wear that Not you" His eyes fell fro the metal under my clothes
"Wear what?" Clara caently, sending spas"
"You always say that" Snorting in annoyance, Clara dashed off and disappeared through a crack at the back of the work rooed forward, very aware of how ers this place held What the hell e doing down here? Fox could’ve told her his story anywhere The garden where the sun was bright would’ve been eon "Get back here"
"Shit, I thought that roo like a shadow on the wall rather than a hued, almost as if he embraced the side of himself he was about to expose He didn’t have to hide down here--he fit
I held back, letting him crack open the heavy door that looked like a bank vault Disappearing inside, he looked over his shoulder "It’s safe I pro the smallish space Rows and rows of shelves existed froe, taking in what the shelves held Hoas this possible? I’ve stepped through time, or entered aaround in a treasure trove of weaponry
Fox kept a careful eye on her, but his body faced lared at hi a child to someplace like this was smart
But as much as I wanted to scream, I couldn’t deny he hovered over her like a protective father, ready to snatch whatever danger she gravitated toward out of her reach
"Holy crap" I drifted forward, eyes bugging at the huge arsenal hidden beneath Fox’s house A secret roos no one should see Unless they were a Jacobite, or Napoleon Hill Every item of death existed fro bows, and nun-chucks
"Like I said, I don’t use them Not anymore I just make them I did it before with--and…well, I find it therapeutic to hat I know" His body vibrated with tension, filling the sy
My face went slack as I drifted around the roo apparatus, breathing in bronze and iron, eable fingers along a wicked looking spiked mace I almost had a heart attack before Fox carefully removed her hand and placed it by her side
"You e contradiction of purity co to war? Who are you fighting?" She stilled, biting her lower lip "Ohhhh, I get it Is that how you got your scar? You’ve been to war"
My heart glowed forquestions, Clara His scar is personal, and I doubt it’s a story he can tell easily"
I glanced at Fox, and he unconsciously stroked the puckered skin on his otherwise perfect face He had a five o’clock shadohich was unusual for hied
He blinked, shaking whatever ht tell you that story another ti to her level, he added, "I didn’t go to war, but I did serve time and obeyed orders I wished I didn’t have to"
Clara’s face fell "I’m sorry"
Fox’s lips twitched into a small smile "It’s not your fault" His face darkened "If you want to hear my story, Clara, you have to promise me you won’t be sad It isn’t about fairies or mermaids, it’s about a little boy who had a fas to thes he’ll never be free of, and it’s about a ain"
Clara nodded, blinking big soulful eyes "I proh to hear"
He looked up, grey eyes delving intoto be hard to tell" He stood up, co out "Is that okay?"
Was it okay? Not really I didn’t like the thought of Clara’s head being full of sadness, or things that hthter to share his past with--but I also…
Shit, I trust hiruesome and spin a story that Clara would believe would be fanciful and fantastical Soer I felt disappeared, and I found ed man before me