Tarnished Embers: A Dark Stepbrother Fairytale Retelling (Dark Retellings)

I come to, my body screaming in agony as I move. The soft sound of fabric shifting underneath me has my eyes opening, my vision wavering in and out of focus as I blink and try to remember where I am and what happened.

Pins and needles in my hands have me bringing them down from above me, and it’s then the dark memories surface; of my stepmother locking me in the attic with strange men, all with dead, soulless eyes, and of being chased around by those same men, one hitting me so hard I saw stars. My head throbs with the memory, but the pain doesn’t stop the onslaught of trauma, and I’m thrown back into my mind, feeling my hands being raised and tied to the bed.

I blink the horrors away, knowing that if I stop and think about it, my walls will crumble and I’ll be lost. Numbness is my best friend right now. Then I rub at my wrists, hissing and glancing down at them to see that they’re no longer bound, but there are deep grooves etched into my flesh, as if whatever was used to tie me down cut into me, marking me.

My gaze focuses lower, and a small animal-like whine sounds from my ruined throat when I see the torn material of my T-shirt, one of Oct’s that I’d been wearing when Odette locked me in here. I hate that it’s ruined, my lip trembling at the waste of something that was such a comfort to me. Then my eyes focus on the red patches and bruises littering my torso, but it’s the sight further down that has bile filling my throat.

My leggings are gone, and I swallow hard, my entire body trembling when I spot the crimson mess between my thighs. The area pulses painfully now that I’ve seen it, and I suck in a sharp gasp when I shift again on the bed, agony flaring from the spot.

Flashes of memory assault me, and I flinch as my mind takes me back to last night, to the men who forced their way inside me. I jerk upright to a seated position, ignoring the excruciating pain and wetness underneath me as my frantic gaze takes in the room. Boxes are knocked over and old trinkets and belongings are strewn across the floor. I shiver, trying desperately not to fall back into the nightmare that lurks on the edges of my vision, threatening to claim me once more.

The light catches on something, making it sparkle and shine like a beacon, and my gaze travels over the smooth surface of the glass slipper that I found when I first explored the space. It feels like aeons ago, but I think it was only two or three days ago.

The shoe is broken, the heel a jagged edge that looks wicked sharp.

There’s a way to make all of this stop, you know… my mind whispers just as another flashback hits me, and my hands go to my throat, the touch making me hiss as I meet tender flesh. The mean one with the voice that will feature in my darkest nightmares almost choked the life out of me. I gasp, blinking as the watery light of pre-dawn fills the room, the single bulb adding a sickly glow to everything.

And Odette will no longer have a hold on the guys. They tried to save you, and look what happened…

I can’t stop staring at that glass fucking shoe, at the sharp edge I know would help me purge all these demons that won’t leave me alone. Without thought, I rise, swinging myself to get up, only my legs buckle and I hit the wooden boards hard, my knees taking the brunt of my fall. Pain fills me, white-hot and burning, and I fall to my hands, just trying to breathe through all the hurt.

Without you, they wouldn’t have been hurt again and she wouldn’t have been able to force them. Without you, she can never make them go through that pain, that horror again…

A part of me knows that the voice is wrong, that Odette was hurting the guys long before I came along, but I can’t get the idea out of my mind now that the seed has been planted. When I open my eyes, the first rays of dawn are shining through the window, casting the broken shoe in light that seems celestial.

You will finally be free of all the pain, all the torment…

“But I’ll never see them again,” I choke out, even as I crawl towards the object that fills my vision. My body is no longer mine to command, my hands seeking something my mind refuses to acknowledge fully.

And you think they’d want you after this? That they could love you after those men have been inside you?

I flinch, tears rolling down my cheeks, landing with soft splats on the dusty floorboards, too weak to argue with myself any longer. My breaths hitch in my chest, my chin trembling as tremors rack my broken body.

Then my eyelids flutter, my head bowing as I reach my destination, but I can’t allow myself to sag into the feeling of relief because there is still one thing left to do.

There’s only one way to set them free, to set all of you free, you know how…

Reaching out a shaking hand, I grasp the broken glass shoe around the wide part, the shattered heel glinting and shining like the answer to all my prayers.

Just two cuts, down the river, not across the stream…

Tears fill my eyes once more as I sit back on my sore arse, the throb of pain nothing compared to the lightness that is filling my veins now that I’ve made my decision.

“I’m sorry, Cas,” I whisper brokenly, bringing the sharp point to my left forearm. I know he’ll be hit the worst by this, after what happened with his parents. Hesitating for a moment, I worry that he’ll blame himself for this like I know a part of him still shoulders the burden of their deaths, but then I catch sight of my wrist, of the deep groove from the restraints that were used to hold me down while they…

A scream of soul-shattering agony rips through me as I slice downwards, blood immediately welling to the surface and dripping down my arm. I quickly swap hands and do the same with my other arm, the pain of my flesh parting quickly replaced with a wave of euphoria that has my nerves tingling.

Then my arms droop, the sound of the shoe falling to the floor a dull clatter as my body slumps against the boxes behind me.

Just a little bit longer and it’ll all be over.

CAS

The breeze might be gentle, but when you’re climbing the side of a building, it feels as though it’s gale force, trying to pry me off. I relish the challenge, my body singing with each pull of my arms that takes me closer to my girl.

After the shitshow that was last night, the disgust I somehow hid as I was forced to fuck woman after woman, I couldn’t wait to get in the shower and rinse them off me. Like the others, I didn’t come, couldn’t orgasm with some stranger that I didn’t even want in the first place. Though washing couldn’t get rid of the itch, so I went out on the balcony to see if the pre-dawn air could help.

It was when I turned around, feeling like if I didn’t I might try to throw myself off the edge, that I saw the trellis that was fixed to the wall, providing the perfect hand and foothold to climb up.

Not thinking about it, and with only the desperate need to see and feel Ember, I started my ascent, and here I am, grateful for my small dabble with parkour back in the States as the trellis soon ran out. Luckily for me, the coving moulding of this old place also helped, and before long, I’m at one of the dormer windows that I’m fucking hoping looks into the attic.

I notice a window further down slightly open, but I can’t reach that, so I’ll just have to hope that she’s awake and can let me in through this one without me falling off the fucking roof.

The tiles creak under my feet as I shuffle along, peering inside to discover the room a mess, a bare lightbulb casting a yellow light over all the odd shapes. My heart fucking stops when I spot the bed, but Ember isn’t in it. Instead, there’s a patch of crimson in the middle, the covers mussed and hanging off the side.

Barely feeling my fingers gripping the sill anymore, I follow a small trail of blood, and when I find its end, a cry of pure animal-like anguish leaves my lips at the same moment that my hand punches through the glass of the window.

Uncaring of the cuts on my flesh, I pull the broken wood and glass aside, heaving myself up and through the window, then dropping to the floor in a heap but quickly bouncing back up and rushing to her side, landing hard on my knees.

“Cinders, baby, no, no, no,” I beg, my voice panicked and unlike my usual deep timbre. Her face is so fucking pale, too fucking pale, and blood sluggishly pours from jagged cuts along her forearms, telling me she did this to herself.

“Cas?” her soft voice whispers, and I look away from the ruin of her arms to find her beautiful blue eyes looking up at me. She gives me a small, sad smile that shatters my already breaking heart. “The only way to free you, to free us all, was to take myself out of the equation. I’m sorry I broke my promise, Cas.”

“I will not lose another fucking person to suicide. Please, Cinders, don’t leave me.” Tears drip down my cheeks as I hover over her, unable to take my eyes off her beautiful face but knowing that I’ll need to if I’ve got any chance of saving her.

Think, Cas! Fucking think!

I tear my gaze away from her, my eyes landing on the rumpled bed sheets, and with gargantuan effort, I force myself to get up and rip them off, tugging the fabric until it tears.

“You’re not allowed to leave me, Cinders,” I grit out, my voice harsh and thick as I rip a strip of fabric and then drop back to my knees beside her.

“It’s better this way, especially after…” she cuts off, her eyes closing as a tear drips down her pale cheek.

I swallow hard as I look beyond her slashed wrists, seeing her missing clothes, the bruises littering her skin, and the blood in between her legs. Rage unlike anything I’ve ever felt flows over me, so strong it’s almost calm, like the eye of a storm.

Odette broke her word, and she will pay. So will the dead men who hurt Ember, for I have no doubt that there was more than one of them.

Focus, Cas.

Pulling my gaze back up to her face, I take her arm in my hand and bind it tightly.

“I know it hurts, baby, but we need to stop the bleeding,” I tell her as her brows furrow, tying off the makeshift bandage and then ripping another strip of the sheet to bind her other arm.

My fingers are stained red by the time I’m done, and they’re shaking so badly it’s a wonder I managed the last knot. Taking a deep inhale, I slide my arms underneath her, picking her up as gently as I can. She still moans in pain, and my soul fractures at the sound, but I feel less frantic now that she’s bandaged up.

“It hurts so bad, Cas,” she whispers brokenly, her voice shredded, no doubt with the amount of screaming she did last night. Screaming that we didn’t answer. Odette isn’t the only one I can’t forgive. I include myself and the fact that I’ve failed her so badly in there too.

“I know, Cinders, but I’ll make it better, I swear,” I murmur, pressing a soft kiss to her head before striding towards the door. “Open the fuck up!”

I kick the door hard for good measure, ignoring the flash of pain that races up from my bare foot.

“What the fuck?” a deep male voice asks from the other side, and my blood fucking boils. Her guards will also pay for letting this happen to her. Anyone who was complicit dies.

The door swings open, but before he can do anything I’m pushing past him and racing down the old creaking staircase. I ignore his shout, too focused on getting Ember the help she needs. My heart pounds inside my chest, sweat dripping down my spine with sheer terror. I can’t lose her.

There’s a door at the end, and I don’t even bother trying the handle, just kick it with my foot, watching as it splinters off its hinges before crashing into the hallway beyond. The thudding footsteps behind me let me know that Odette’s guard followed us down, but I don’t give a fuck. He can’t take her from me, I’ll kill the motherfucker if he tries.

I vaguely register how fucking close she was this whole time, my jaw clenching with how near she was to us yet so out of reach. We thought we were keeping her safe by not trying to get to her, but we damned her instead.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Prince!” I scream as I stride down the hall towards our wing. He rushes out of his room, the twins with him, their eyes wide and the whites showing. Then they stop when they spot Ember in my arms, and by the way Prince’s body jerks like he’s been shot, I’m guessing he saw her injuries too. “Call a fucking ambulance!” I yell over my shoulder, realizing that he was the one who told us that Ember was in the attic, the day Odette locked her away.

Fucking Odette has never given us phones, and as we only had each other it was never an issue. It’s just something else she fucked us over with, but Ember’s jailer can make himself useful and get her the help she needs.

The gruff sound of the guard’s voice filters into the hall moments later, and a small measure of tension leaves me knowing help is on its way. Prince and the twins run up to me as I keep going, not stopping until I’m in her room and lying her down on the bed.

“Oh, Little Sis,” Oct breathes out, tears making his eyes sparkle as he crouches on her other side.

“O–Oct?” she asks, but it’s barely a sound, and my chest tightens. Where’s the fucking medics?

“I’m here, baby. Kit and Cas too, Prince is getting help,” he says, brushing her hair from her face. I hear Prince talking to the guard outside of the room, but I can’t take my eyes off her almost lifeless form. My pulse roars in my ears at the blood, which is matted in her hair, his hand shaking as he hovers over her like he doesn’t know where to touch her that won’t cause her pain.

“They’re on their way,” Prince says as he strides into the room, his eyes on Ember lying in the bed, who is still looking far too pale. His inhale is ragged, his fists clenched around his phone as he stares at our lifeless soulmate. “She’s gone too fucking far this time.”

I know who he’s talking about. Odette. The monster that we’ve been forced to call mother for too long.

“She has,” Kit agrees, his own voice a husk of what it normally is. “And she will pay the price.”

“Agreed,” Prince, Oct, and I say together just as sirens wail in the distance.