Secrets of the Night

Chapter 24

Willow hadn't slept the whole night. She just sat there in front of the door too distraught to even just move. At some point the tears had stopped coming and the sobbs had died down. And after some more time had passed, the thoughts that had been running through her head like crazy had stopped too.

Now she just felt empty. Empty and sad. This dull sadness had nested itself into Willow's heart, as she was staring off into the darkness that surrounded her. At this point all her spirit seemed gone. Washed out of her with those countless tears she had cried that night.

She didn't care about the dried up tear stains on her cheeks, or her hurting eyes. She didn't care that she was still in her father's old clothes, or that sometime soon someone would come in here and find her like that.

She didn't care.

The sun was starting to rise again and was peaking through the window in Willow's room. She hadn't bothered to close the curtains last night. And she certainly couldn't be bothered now.

Willow could hear the house slowly coming to life. Distant footsteps walking around downstairs, people talking to one another. Surely Philip was already awake as well. And Willow wondered if he got any sleep last night. She doubted it. But she couldn't bring herself to care either.

Nevertheless, whenever her thoughts travelled to him, she felt her heart aching. She still couldn't understand how he could do that to her. How could any brother do something like this to his sister?

Shaking her head ever so slightly she dismissed the thought. It didn't matter. What's done is done.

The sound of the door behind her unlocking somewhat managed to snap her out of her trance and gave her the energy to move away from the door enough so it could be opened without hitting her.

As Elise entered the room, her gaze landed upon Willow for a moment, but she turned her head away again quickly. Without a word she placed a tray with breakfast on the dresser next to the door and was out the room again the next moment.

Willow didn't miss the sad and pitying look on her face when Elise's gaze fell on her though. She could only guess what she had to look like right now.

Ever so slowly Willow pulled herself up and walked over to the dresser. It cost her a ton of energy to just get over there. She wasn't really feeling hungry. How could she be? The news her brother barked at her last night were anything but easy to digest.

And there was that little pinch in her heart again at the thought of her brother. Walking over to the window, Willow looked outside. Wondering if she would ever be out there again. At that moment, she highly doubted it. Her brother would probably keep her locked in her room until her husband to be came by to pick her up. Just the thought of that...

No. No, she wouldn't just accept that. If her brother thought he could just marry her off to some stranger he was wrong. She could feel her spirit coming back to her and the dull cloud of sadness that had surrounded her was slowly disappearing. Instead the anger started to bubble up inside her.

Philip might have caught her off guard with that last night and that advantage of surprise might let him win that argument. But that by no means indicated, that she would just give in like that. No. Not her. Willow refused to do that. No matter how her brother planned to get her to say yes at the altar, she wouldn't do it. No way in hell.

Her brother would have to find someone else to marry off to that man that he had chosen for her. She wouldn't say a single word to her brother from now on and not to her betrothed either. She might not have met the man yet, but if her brother chose him and he had agreed to marry a stranger he couldn't possibly be any better than her brother.