House of Winter

Chapter 30, Part 2

"I'm sorry," Lumi said in a high pitch, through the door.

"My fault," Tom said. She could hear the panic in his voice. "They told me you were already out but they were wrong."

"It's fine," Lumi said in a small voice.

She could feel the weight of Tom outside the door, standing there. She stared down at her feet, which were red from how long she'd spent in the hot water.

Lumi dried herself quickly and then rushed out the door, to find Tom was still standing there.

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"It's fine," she said. "You didn't see anything."

As she sat on the bed in the little room that they shared, Lumi kept replaying the shocked expression on Tom's face when he'd seen her in the bathroom, wrapped in a towel.

Finally, Tom returned to the room.

"Nice to have a bath," he said gruffly, as he blew out the lamp. "I can sleep on the floor if you want."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lumi said quietly, and she heard him find his way to the bed in the darkness. The bed creaked as he sat down on it. She remained perfectly still while he settled himself. She stared at the ceiling in the darkness, willing sleep to come.

"That was your brother, wasn't it?" Tom asked quietly, after an age.

"What?" Lumi said, surprised.

"The burns on your body," Tom said, his voice soft. "He did that to you."

Lumi swallowed. She hadn't realised that Tom would have seen that. He would have seen her arms, the silver white flowers that traversed her arms. He saw her legs, the glowing white stars that made patterns across her thighs.

"I'm so sorry he did that to you, Lumi," Tom whispered. "You never deserved any of that."

Lumi bit her lip. How could she lie to Tom? But how could she tell him the truth?

"He's a monster, to do that to you," Tom said.

"Stop," Lumi whispered.

"I mean it," Tom said.

"Please don't talk about it. Please? Can you forget it? Can you forget you ever saw it? Can we never speak of it again?"

"How could I ever forget that, Lumi?" Tom said, his voice low. "How could I ever forget what he's done, to you and to those innocent people in New Hamilton, and to everyone who has ever been hurt by him?"

Lumi remained silent.

There was so much she should tell Tom. She should tell him that she needed Tai, because they had been together for their whole lives and now that they were apart she was suffering. And she should tell him that the burns on her arms and legs had never been Tai. They had all been her.

But she knew Tom would never understand, so she stayed silent.

She was feeling anxious and finding it difficult to get to sleep when she heard the sound of a horn being blown somewhere in the village. Tom was sitting up in an instant, and Lumi sat up too.

"I'll see what's happening. You stay here," Tom said.

But there was no way Lumi was remaining alone in the room. She followed Tom.

"Where's Kobuk?" Tom whispered, when they pushed open the door to outside. The wolf had been sleeping in front of the fire in the dining hall, but now he was gone.

Lumi felt a flicker of panic, and she tried to create a fire, but suddenly in her panic the fire didn't come.

"Kobuk," Tom hissed out into the night.

The night ws freezing cold but still, and Lumi could hear the sounds of some of the locals moving about further afield but she couldn't see anyone. She wanted desperately to light a huge fire to see by.

"Stay close behind me," Tom whispered.

They heard the sound of the horn again, and then one of the local men that Lumi had sat at dinner next to ran past them.

"More bloody intruders," he said as he ran past. "If you two have a bounty on your head then I will probably collect it. Hey... what's a great white wolf doing here?"

"What did he say?"

"A white wolf..." Lumi said.

Tom glanced at Lumi, and she saw the whites of his eyes reflecting the firelight behind her.

They ran, and as they rounded a corner of the village they finally saw Kobuk, who was wrestling with a great white wolf.

"Kobuk!" Tom called.

Both wolves stopped and looked over at Tom. Kobuk's tongue was lolling out of his mouth. He looked like he was grinning. The white wolf also looked happy.

"Helvig," Lumi breathed out. Then she saw Helvig's starrling standing behind her.

Princess Katja of Norrlund was in Sredsibirsk.

to be continued...

thanks to my favourite readers for voting on this chapter ❤️

elle