"You can't fix this, Matthias."

This, along with her hollow laugh, made him shiver a little. What was wrong with her anyway? HE tightened the grip on her hands, though barely and replied, "If I can't, someone else can, I have connections. Now tell me." He said soothingly, trying to reassure her. He was dying to know now, what could have been so terrible that it permanently wiped the shining grin he could usually coax from her from her face?

She pulled her hands from his, pushing up her sleeves and leaned over, staring blankly at her wrists. There were markings there, it looked painful, but not as painful as the tears in her eyes. He wasn't sure what to make of all this. Matthias closed his eyes and then looked at the wrists again, yes the marks were still there.

He leaned back, not wanting to just assume anything, but he had a pretty good idea. He'd seen markings like this before. A girl his graduating year had been raped, and she'd similar bruises around her wrists where she had been pinned. He looked sober, "Theodora, I know this is probably diffcult, but please....tell me exactly how those markings came to be upon your wrists. Tell me where, when, who- anything." he said, very quietly, and for the first time he resembled his father very much so to Theo with his quiet, stern voice, hard eyes, stony face, and thick accent that came out whenever he was getting angry. A vein throbbed in his temple as he awaited a response.


i'll be sure to stay wary of you
love to save the pain of once my flame and twice my burn