The Oath We Give (Hollow Boys, #5)

by Monty Jay

It has always been better to remain quiet than risk speaking words no one believes.

He laughs. The same laugh I’ve heard nearly every day in my house for the entire span of my life. Deep and from his stomach. I wonder if that sound will echo in the halls when he’s gone or if time will steal that from me too. Death isn’t the enemy. It’s time.

I take my bottom lip between my teeth. How do I tell him I need him to stay a voice? That I can’t want to know him? How do I say I want to know everything about you more than anything? What you’ll be and where you’ve been. I want to know what it feels like to touch you, really fucking touch you.

“Did you just laugh?” I whisper, unable to help myself from asking. “Scream for me, and you can find out.” His breath hisses out, mocking me.

“You’re my wife, Coraline Hawthorne. If I want to cover myself in the blood of a thousand more men to protect you, I will,” I tell her. “They cannot hurt you without having to answer to me.”

“There is no defeat when you refuse to lose. We can only be beaten when we give up on ourselves, Coraline.”

Belief isn't the validation I need from her. Belief was something I needed from myself.