Bound by Forever - (True Immortality #3) Page 0,104
Vatican City a few years back and he was bored from the get-go, and frankly being annoying. He kept making loud comments about the disproportionate distribution of wealth, the hypocrisy and disgusting display of money when there were people begging for food on the streets of Rome. Whether or not you agree with him, it was pretty bloody embarrassing when you’re crammed into the place with thousands of other people, trying to pretend like you don’t know the cheeky bastard.” She laughed now, remembering his “couldn’t give a feck” attitude and how much she’d loved him for it.
“When we got to St. Peter’s Basilica, I’d gotten away from him and was standing with a crowd in front of the Pietà. Have you seen it in real life?” She turned her head on the pillow to ask him. The Pietà was a sculpture by Michelangelo of the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus.
Kiyo nodded. “I’ve seen it.”
“There’s something about it, isn’t there? You don’t have to believe in God or Jesus Christ to feel it.”
“I know what you’re talking about.”
“I was lost in the moment. Perhaps it was the Catholics around me crying over the sculpture or maybe it was just the sorrow Michelangelo captured in a grieving mother’s face. I don’t know what it was about it, protected behind its glass wall … I just knew I felt a deep spiritual sadness.” Niamh sighed heavily. “And then my bloody brother appeared and cracked the most blasphemous, terrible, awful joke as loudly as he bloody possibly could.” Niamh shook with laughter. “It wasn’t even funny, but the moment was so badly ruined that I started to laugh. It was awful. I couldn’t stop laughing, and the more I laughed, the more he laughed and the guiltier I felt.”
Kiyo grinned as she peeked at him through the hands covering her face. Her cheeks were still hot remembering the moment.
“Oh, it was equal parts horrifying and hilarious. I thought the tourists and guards were going to lynch us. He was such an arsehole,” she said affectionately. “He made light of things because everything was always so heavy for me. I didn’t really see how much he did that until he was gone.”
Niamh turned onto her side, hands to her cheeks. Kiyo’s chest rose and fell with shallow breaths as he held her gaze. “I feel like someone stole a piece of me that I’ll never get back. Like there’s always going to be this emptiness inside me because he’s gone. It was different when Mam died. A different kind of aloneness. I loved her, but we weren’t close. I know that sounds strange, but we just never bonded the way she and Ronan did. You were close to your mam … did you feel that way when she died? That emptiness?”
“Yeah,” he answered without hesitation, voice hoarse. “It had always been us two against the world. She never blamed me for any of it. She always told me she’d never change what happened because in the end, she had me. My mother was a dreamer.” He smiled softly. “She believed in magic and romance even after my father left her. Despite his betrayal, despite her family’s betrayal and the way they and everyone else treated us, she still saw the good in people. There was an innocence about her. A light. I see the same thing in you.”
Emotion thickened Niamh’s throat.
“She used to tell me I was special and that I’d do something special with my life. They weren’t just words—she dreamed big for me. Her belief was almost enough to make me feel a part of the world. Almost.” He sighed wearily, turning to stare up at the ceiling. “I was angry at her when she killed herself. I didn’t understand how she could leave me alone.
“When I got older, I understood that what was done to her broke her. Those men took away her dreams and violated her into darkness. I stopped being angry and started to feel guilty. I kept thinking, what if I had talked with her … reminded her who she was and tried to pull her back into the light.” Kiyo turned toward Niamh, and her eyes filled with tears in answer to the ones she saw in his. “I couldn’t do that for her. But I will fight to my last breath to do that for you. Astra can’t have you.”
Niamh didn’t know what part of the high-octane events of the last twenty-four hours