The Princess

Chapter Eight – Kanato’s POV

Why…?

Why is she always outside, smiling at things that aren’t me?

I sat at the window, Teddy in my lap, his glassy eyes staring down at her with me. April, in the garden, surrounded by roses that don’t even deserve her touch. Her crimson hair sways in the breeze, her ocean-blue eyes so far away. She looks happy. Peaceful.

But she shouldn’t be. She should be with me. Always with me.

“Do you see, Teddy?” I whispered, stroking the bear’s worn fur. “She doesn’t think about us when she’s down there. She doesn’t think about me.”

My teeth sank into my lip, hard enough to taste copper. It wasn’t fair. It had never been fair. From the very beginning, she was given things I wasn’t. Beatrix smiled at her. Christa called her daughter. Even Father—Father smiled for her in ways he never did for us.

And Cordelia… tch. Cordelia hated her. I remember that. I remember her trying to drown April, trying to shove her down the stairs, trying to take her away forever.

But April didn’t die. She stayed. She grew up, she got prettier, kinder, sweeter. She kept singing, she kept smiling. Even when I screamed at her, even when I cried in her lap, she stayed.

That’s why she’s mine.

Mine.

Not Ayato’s, with his loud, stupid games. Not Reiji’s, with his lectures. Not Shu’s, with his silence. Not Laito’s, with his filthy hands. And not Subaru’s, with his fists.

Mine.

I hugged Teddy tighter, rocking back and forth as my breath came faster. She belongs to me because no one else loves her the way I do. No one else knows how soft her hands feel when she wipes away my tears, how warm her voice sounds when she tells me I’m not broken.

But if she tries to leave me—if she tries to smile at them the way she smiles at me…

My voice cracked as I whispered into Teddy’s ear. “Then I’ll break her, Teddy. I’ll break her into so many pieces no one else can ever put her back together. And then… she’ll stay with me forever.”

I giggled, high and breathless, the sound bouncing off the empty room. The idea made my heart flutter, my skin shiver. April, shattered and mine, like a porcelain doll I could hold and kiss and never share.

Down in the garden, she rose to her feet again, brushing dirt from her dress. My eyes followed every movement, hungry, desperate. She looked so delicate, so… perfect.

“Ne, Teddy,” I whispered, clutching him close. “We’ll go to her soon, won’t we? We’ll remind her she belongs to me.”

My grin widened, sharp and trembling.

“And if she forgets…” I stroked Teddy’s ear, tilting my head to the side. “We’ll just have to make sure she never forgets again.”