Bruno

Aurelia's hands grasp at mine as I keep squeezing her neck. She coughs and wheezes and tries to say something. I glance back at the closed door. I must finish her fast, before the guards decide to check if everything is all right, or Philto decides to go upstairs. The reservations I normally have against hurting women do not apply here. I feel nothing but cold hatred for this creature struggling now in my grip.

"Did you enjoy it?" I hiss, increasing the pressure. "Making a fool of Oliver, using him, then just discarding him?"

"Stop," she croaks. "Don't...it's me... Had...rian..."

"What?" I ease the pressure a little.

"I'm...Hadrian...let...go!"

I open my fingers and she gasp and grabs at her throat, sliding down to the floor. I just stand there, frowning. Then, I grasp a handful of blond hair and force her face up. It's hard to see it in the dark, and with my vision partly obscured by the swelling around my eye, I'm still not sure who's staring back at me. I can make out the familiar long hair and large eyes and the heart-shaped face, but Hadrian and Aurelia always looked very similar.

"Tell me something only Hadrian could know," I say.

"Oh gosh." There's a pause filled by labored breathing. "Uhm. We...lived in the forest. You...cooked asparagus. I had a yew poisoning. I...uhm...I tried to chop wood but you wouldn't let me?"

Now that he's not whispering, his voice is recognizable, too. But how could this be? I was sure he was dead already, or about to be executed. How come he's alive, and free, and...dressed like a woman? My eyes slip down his figure, noting the swelling of a bosom. That raises my suspicions again.

"What's that? You have breasts," I say, grabbing one of them.

"Pieces of fabric rolled together," he hisses, struggling out of my grip and up to his feet. "Would you let go before you tear them off?"

I remove my hand. He takes a deep breath, then leans with his back on the wall and stares at me for a while.

"They really did a good job on you face," he says. "Like, completely rearranged things."

"I don't understand what's going on," I say.

"It's not so hard. My guards were morons and that was their undoing. I put on their clothes and thought about leaving. Then, I thought about you." He pauses. "So, I went to the laundry room downstairs and got this wonderful outfit, and, well, here I am." He spreads his hands. "This is the part where you thank me."

I'm still too confused to answer. He's betrayed me before. My tired brain is struggling to find the explanation for his current actions. There's got to be some hidden motive. Neither he or his sister do anything without those.

He stares at me expectantly for a while, then sighs and shakes his head.

"Look, I know you don't trust me. I've made a bad choice the last time. But this time... I wanted to choose right." He rubs his forehead tiredly, then looks up at me again. "I know you're mad at me, but damn it, Bruno, I'm here now. I came back for you. It has to mean something."

I still don't know what to say. Him caring about me would be a dangerous thing to believe. I did that once, and the awakening was very painful. I can't go through that again. I'd rather think he has other reasons for being here.

He shifts, staring up at me. "Say something."

"What do we do now?" I say.

He chuckles. "Not what I expected to hear, but I'll take it." He looks away. "The first option is we go where I hid the clothes of the guards, put them on, leave the castle and run as far away as possible. If that's what you wish, I'm in."

"And the second option?"

"We pay a visit to my bitch sister," he says through gritted teeth. "Personally, I really, really want to do that, and I suspect that so do you."

It sure sounds enticing, even considering all the possible complications. Still, I can't see how we could manage it.

"We can't get there unobserved. Her room is guarded."

"Well, I know a couple of things about the secret passages in this castle." He gives me a sideways glance. "Being a member of the royal family and all."

"There's no secret passages leading to her tower," I say. "I saw the map."

"She's made the map." He grins. "Do you think she'd have put a passage leading to her own chambers on it?"

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