“Are you talking about Rhys’ wife?”


  “You know about her,” she replied back to see him nod.

  “That explains the scarf around your neck. There isn’t anything I don’t know when it comes to Bonelake. She isn’t a black witch therefore there it isn’t something to worry about,” he stated, “The whole universe is faulty. Things you think are good can turn bad and things that are bad can turn good. Hence, it is always best to keep your eyes and ears always open.”


  Going up to the piano room, they played the keys both Heidi and Nicholas taking turns. It was one of those moments Heidi cherished and wanted to continue chershing in her mind. Since Nicholas had told her about his past, things had changed. From the arrogant, scheming man she had come to know him as, she now saw him in a different light, perhaps it was not light but darkness that shadowed him. She couldn’t fathom the pain he would have gone through when the people killed his mother. No, they didn’t just kill her but also tore her into pieces. Who knew that the lord of Bonelake who carried the serene and gentleman like smile had witnessed something so gruesome in his childhood.

  She wished she could take away and ease the pain from him but the man had none. Heidi wasn’t sure if it had been stubbed and curbed until it was locked down or if it had disappeared in time, replacing the pain with what he had become today.

  “Is this a new one,” Heidi asked, picking up the new music sheet he had added in the bundle of notes.

  “It is but it isn’t mine,” he said continuing to play the keys leisurely.

  “Who does it belong to?” taking a closer look she noticed the scribbling was darker and messier compared to the other music sheets which was in the room.

  Leaning close to her side, Nicholas whispered, “I stole it,” before grinning at her.

  “I would believe it,” she smiled back to hear him chuckle.

  “I must be quite a man in your eyes.”


  “There’s no doubt in it,” she put the music sheet once he was done playing. When he started playing the sheet he spoke to her,

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fyHr1P4XfI

  “It is said that a man who worked in the theater fell for a woman of a high status he wouldn’t have imagined of. He was said to be a courageous man, a man who stood by his word and pride, a man who was good. When he met the woman, he fell hard for her. Not realizing the dream he was chasing behind when he had to wake up to reality. Funnily, the woman reciprocated back his feelings. They met in secret, in the garden in the balcony. Behind the theater and at the horse shed but when the secret was spilled out the man was ordered to stay away from the woman. Soon he was falsely accused and executed under law,” Nicholas narrated the story, not lifting his head but playing on the keys like he was well versed with it.

  “Was it the girls father that set him up?” Heidi asked him with a frown.

  “We don’t know. It may or may not have been true,” he shrugged his shoulder, “It is told that before he was executed, he was granted a wish and the man asked for a piano to play his heart out to the girl whom he couldn’t meet as news had reached him that she had killed herself. They say these are the last pieces he created before his death.”


  “That is a very depressing story,” she commented to see his hand reach out for her.

  “Well, what can I say, darling. Not all love stories are like ours.”


  “And how is ours?” she tested him to speak about it. Nicholas linked his fingers with hers, squeezing it.

  “Ours,” he prompted as he leaned his face close to hers. Heidi felt her eyes fall on Nicholas’ lips as it closer and closer, her breath already feeling heavy, “It’s thrilling and exciting. A forbidden romance which was not supposed to take place,” he closed the space between their lips, kissing her with the right amount of pressure. Soon his hands found themselves in her hair, kissing the life out of her and he had to support her head when he pulled back as she looked slightly dazed out. She shivered when he peppered small kisses on her neck and behind her ear.

  “Sleep with me tonight,” she heard him whisper in her ear. That night, Heidi complied to Nicholas’ words and her body, that had begun to desire his closeness.

  In Nicholas’ bed, Heidi arched her body as he fingered her deeper in an out while looking at her curb to the pleasure and let go of shame in front of him. She gasped when his finger reached deeper, getting accustomed to the feeling she barely opened her eyes from the pleasure that was building up when she caught Nicholas looking at her, his eyes swirling with lust while his face still held the calm expression making her shy away as she covered her face with her hand.

  “Why are you covering your face?” Nicholas furrowed his brows and pulled her hand away from her face to pin it on the bed.

  “Stop looking!” she spoke too embarrassed.

  “My. I believe we are past that point now and it’s ridiculous,” he pointed out. Quickening the pace of his fingers he saw her lose herself once again, her words getting incoherent as seconds flew by until she felt her orgasm. As she came down from the clouds, she caught him in the act of licking his fingers clean with a dark and a seductive look.

  “N-Nicholas,” she stuttered when he pinned her other arm on the bed so that she wouldn’t hide herself from him, “I thought you wanted to sleep with me,” at her innocent words, Nicholas smiled.

  “Unfortunately, I cannot ask Stanley or anyone else to educate you in this matter so I will take responsibility in it. When I said I wanted you to sleep with me, it meant- It’s been a while since I last had you and right now I craving to devour every inch of you until you fall asleep. Was that simple?” he tilted his head.

  Hovering above her body where her night dress had been pulled up and the front open for his eyes, he lowered himself slowly. Playing with her like a cat would do with a mouse, he didn’t let his lips touch her but he let them hover over her, pleased with the way her heartbeat increased and shuddered. Her eyelids half closed and half open along with her lips that were parted and waiting to be touched by him. When he began to pull back, Heidi followed him like a magnet to hear a small chuckle from him.

  “Patience, my grasshopper,” he murmured leaning forward and this time kissing her without any further delay. Heidi felt her toes curl and her heel slide back from its position as he plundered her mouth, slipping his tongue into her inviting and warm mouth. Playfully he kissed her lips again and then left a kiss on her forehead which lingered longer than the others, “I love you, Heidi. Stay here,” he whispered.

  “I am not going anywhere,” she looked into his eyes to see worry linger behind those dark red eyes that looked almost black.

  “I know,” he laid to his side and pulled her to hug her in his arms, “I will have Stanley and the others look after you when I am at Mythweald.”


  “Okay,” she nodded, feeling him place his chin above her head, “Even if I had to go, I have no place to go to,” she replied thoughtlessly to receive a hum in response. It was selfish of him to think like this yet Nicholas was glad that Heidi had nowhere else to go but to stay with him.