Part 37 (2/2)
”I didn't mean to offend,” I replied in a feeble voice I'd not heard pa.s.s my lips, not ever, not even when my father was doling out his punishments.
”I know you didn't,” Kristian responded, his tone now gentle. ”But, sister, you did it all the same so I'm asking you to stop.”
I tried a different tack.
”I certainly don't need all this, Kristian,” I flicked a hand to the wardrobe, ”and you know it's true. I could give you but a quarter of it and you and Brikitta would want for nothing for the rest of your lives.”
”We did not earn that treasure,” he retorted.
”Fine, if you believe I did, then it's mine to do with as I wish and I wish to share it with you. And,” I said my last word tersely, ”if you refuse it again, then I'll bestow it on Timofei, then, when he or she arrives, I'll bestow more on your unborn child. That you cannot refuse.”
He scowled into my face for a long moment before he muttered, ”You're very stubborn.”
”Do not say this as if you haven't known it about me the extent of your life,” I returned.
He looked to the treasure displayed.
I waited.
My brother said nothing.
I grew impatient.
”I've just decided to visit a goldsmith and have him immediately begin work on a set for Brikitta, earrings, necklace, bracelets, rings, at least one hundred Sjofn ice diamonds, with perhaps a few Korwahkian gems thrown in,” I declared.
Kristian looked to me, grinning and shaking his head.
”You've always been impossible,” he declared.
I tossed my head. ”A trait of which I'm most proud.”
His next came abruptly, with no warning.
Though, even warned, it was one thing all my life I knew I could never endure without breaking.
”You know I love you.”
I took a small step back.
My brother did not take this nonverbal cue.
”From the first memory I have of you, I fell in love with you. As a child, you were so beautiful, dazzling, and that never changed. And even then, I felt your strength.”
”Please, Kristian,” I whispered.
”I would not be here without you.”
”That's not true.”
”You know it is. My mind would have broken. They'd have driven me literally mad.”
I shook my head. ”Kristian, don't.”
He ignored my plea.
”I will love you until my dying breath. And I will tell my children stories of your courage and strength and the depth of love you had for me so often they will love you until their dying breath. And they will share this with their children in a way that the name Franka Drakkar will never die, but will be spoken with devotion and reverence until my line ceases to exist.”
I felt them, cold and wet, hovering on my cheekbones. The burn in my throat threatened to consume me as I fought to keep them back, but I failed.
They fell down my cheeks.
”Please go to this other world and find happiness, sister,” Kristian whispered.
I nodded, swallowed, and more tears fell.
He opened his arms and continued whispering.
”Now please come here so I can hold you.”
My feet moved me directly to him, right into his arms.
They closed around me.
The instant they did, the sob wracked through me.
It was painful, pain so deep, there was no cure.
And it was cleansing, a clean so thorough, I'd never, not once in my life, felt so pure.
”I wish I had magic like you do,” he said into the top of my hair. ”I'd wipe away the scars that mar your beauty with ugly memories and remind you that you were never allowed to be happy. Doing this making you believe you have that right and you should reach for it.”
”Y-you...m-must...stop,” I stammered through my weeping.
”For you, Franka, I will stop.”
And he did as promised, holding me as the wet poured forth. Years of tears I was not allowed to shed, I did so, letting them leak into my brother's s.h.i.+rt, dousing it, giving him the privilege for once, of returning the favor and absorbing my pain.
When I quieted to unladylike hiccoughs I didn't have the energy to feel mortification over, his arms tightened and he said quietly, ”You give Brikitta and I what you wish to give from your treasure, love, and we'll accept it with glad hearts.”
I nodded.
One of his arms left me so he could put a fist light to the underside of my chin. He leaned back as he lifted it and looked down at me.
”I shall call Josette to see to you. Would you like me to share with the others that you'll need to miss drinks and will join us at the dinner table?”
This meant I looked a fright.
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