Page 92 of Stormhold

Something like fire burned inside me. “I won’t,” I screamed. “Who did this? He was fine this morning. I locked the closet. Who did this, Mamma!?”

She shook her head, her helpless eyes on me. “It was an accident, Arkane. It must’ve escaped out,” she said, patting my back. “We’ll get you another one.”

“You can’t get me another Ronnie,” I shouted, shrugging out of her hold. “There’s only one of him.”

“What’s going on here?” Father hurried over to the courtyard, pushing Adam away, who tried to clean up the mess that was once Ronnie, my best friend.

“Didn’t I tell you to get rid of this?” Father narrowed his eyes at me, and I stared back, gritting my teeth. And Father didn’t like that one bit. He was on me in an instant, gripping my arm with force. “You think you’re in a position to play with pets, Arkane? Do you know the kind of responsibility you have for this family?”

“I don’t care. I hate this family,” I shouted, and the words weren’t even fully out of my mouth when a sharp crack swept through the air, and his palm met my cheek. The sting that spread through my skin was nothing compared to the anger I felt. “You did this. You did this,” I accused, pointing a finger at him. “You did this! I hate you!”

That only angered Father more, and he grabbed my hand. “You need to be taught a lesson,” he bit out, tugging me away while I screamed and fought, clawing at him.

“Let him go, Victor.” Mother stepped forward with a worried look, but stopped when Father raised a hand.

“He must learn, Cassandra,” Father told her firmly. “You know what this family demands. He can’t be weak.”

A heavy sigh left her lips, but she slowly nodded. She didn’t do anything but simply watch as Father took me away while I struggled and fought.

My eyes begged her to save me, but except for pity and helplessness, there wasn’t anything else in her gaze. At that moment, I felt something in me die, and all the fight left my body. Even if my own mother didn’t fight for me, who ever will?

Soon, I found myself locked in the tower room. A room that I swore I would never return to again. It was cloaked in darkness, with only a light-up wall clock that was stuck at twelve o’clock and the cold floor beneath my skin to keep me company. I thought I was going to die the first time Father put me here.

It was about two years ago when I accidentally hit Marcus while playing football. It wasn’t my fault, but Father wouldn’t listen. He said I needed to learn discipline.

I screamed and cried, but no one came to help. And it felt like days had passed. With no water, no food, and no sense of time, I had almost gone crazy, but later realized I had only been there for half a day. Ever since then, I hated this room.

But now, I felt nothing. And the more I sat there in silence, the more my body numbed, and I heard my thoughts in a clear tone.

I didn’t know who killed Ronnie, but Father might as well have. He made it clear that no one was supposed to love me, but only today I found out that I wasn’t allowed to love anyone either.

Weak. He said he didn’t want a weak son.

A chuckle spit out of my lips at that. The only weak man in my eyes was my father.

One day, I’ll show him what true power actually was, and that day, my father will finally look at himself in the mirror and realize that he was the problem all along.

And when that day comes, he won’t even be able to look me in the eye.

Age 16

It didn’t take me long to figure out it didn’t matter what I did. In my father’s eyes, it was all wrong.

Always wrong.

So over the years, instead of reacting, I simply chose silence.

It was funny how he thought that he was the one handling me, but in reality, I played him like a perfect toy while I waited for my turn. True power was also patience.

“Master Arkane, your father asks for your presence in his office before you leave for school,” Adam announced in his respectful voice, his stance brisk like he hadn’t relaxed in years. Who would, if they spent all their life serving a man like Victor Stormhold?

I nodded to him, heaving myself out of the pool.

“Exciting day if your father asked for you this early,” Karl said dryly as Adam left. He was casually lying in our indoor pool lounge, barely looking up from the book he was engrossed in.

Every day, I was to wake up at four, do my gym training, swim for an hour, attend my music lesson before I left for school, and then come back for my martial arts training, attend skills and linguistics tuition, and then do homework before bed.

“Says the ass who cares more about his prissy hair.” Lucien threw his wet towel at Karl, who dodged it with ease, and soon, they started their insistent bickering.