Free Redemption (Dawn of the Damned Book 1) by Connie Chance

shutting noiselessly behind them, a key turning to lock her in.
    Her beloved brother was coming!
     

VIII
    The day did come, the day that she apparently was to face the music. But the person that wheeled in her breakfast trolley was someone she was ill prepared to meet. As yet.
    Ejner Nordskov.
    She remained right where she was, sitting on the cold windowsill in shock as she watched him push the trolley into her room, his eyes holding hers the whole time, the door swinging shut behind him.
    Dark ringed pairs of eyes met identically paired eyes. Fear, uncertainty, guilt, hope- some of the thick emotions swirling between them, and dread for the unknown, especially of how one would receive the other.
    “Sister!”
    “Brother!”
    “You’re well?”
    “I am.”
    “I.. I’m glad to hear it.”
    “Thank you.” An uncomfortable silence settled over them then, eyes searching one other, scouring each other for whatever bit of information they could gather, without the discomfort of speaking.
    “I brought.. Your breakfast is here,” Ejner finally caved in and said with great discomfort, pushing the tray forward towards her.
    “Thank you,” is all she muttered, stopping the trolley rolling her way with her foot before it could crush against the wall, still seated on the window sill, her eyes still assessing her brother, never leaving his face the whole time.
    “I met your child,” she also conceded to speak, nothing better coming to mind. Now he managed to smile, and she mirrored his expression easily. Raven is a lovely child.
    “She’s beautiful,” Anja went on to compliment.
    “That she is,” Ejner confirmed, his voice betraying the pride of a loving father.
    “A tad too curious, though,” she interjected. They both chuckled at this, though the air was still heavily ridden with unease.
    “That she is,” her brother confirmed, his smile widening, though only slightly.
    With that done, another heavy silence weighed down on them again.
    “Are they.. taking good care of you here?”
    “Yes. Well.. As good care as one can expect.”
    “I.. I hope it is better than that. If I didn’t think it’d leave you worse off, I’d have kept you in my house.”
    She lowered her head at that revelation and picked up a juicy looking red apple. Yes, staying in the same house with Ejner might bring back dark memories that she was still trying to suppress, love him as she may.
    “Well, I’ll leave you to your breakfast now,” he then said, looking very awkward and ill at ease as his eyes swept over the room.
    “Okay,” she answered, unsure on what other appropriate response there was for her to say.
    “Ummh.. Good luck in there, sister,” Ejner finally said, straightening up to meet her eyes again.
    “Thank you, brother,” she quietly said, to which he nodded. He started walking away towards the door, stopping with his hand on the door knob to turn her way again.
    “Don’t.. Do not be worried. Most of us are sympathetic,” he told her, his eyes having found hers again. She nodded yet again, unsure of how else to react.
    “I.. I wish to call in on you later,” he went on further to say, his hand still on the door. “Regardless of the verdict. I’d like to see you again.”
    She nodded to this, for she too wished to see him again, despite the fact that they reminded each other of so dark a time.
    He nodded back a thank you before hurriedly walking out her room, a key turning in the lock once the door swung shut after him.
    She wasn’t nervous. On the contrary, she couldn’t be more at peace. Today would be her make it or break it day, so to speak. Her many attempts to get away these past months had been futile, for the grills at her windows are unhingeable, the thick heavily reinforced concrete walls unbreachable, and the single door in the room rivals that of most secure vaults. All her attempts to escape had been futile so far. Whatever she tried- all she managed to do was just rattle something or dislocate