I’m paying too, punished for my greedy idiocy.
Cinder’s eyelids flutter as her muscles relax. She has moments left.
A calm settles over me.
Things won’t end like this.
She’s my happily ever after.
I’ll prove everyone right.
I am a selfish, impulsive son of a bitch, so it’s time I act like it. Even if that means doing the forbidden.
I bite into my wrist and push it to her lips. “Drink.”
She’s too weak, she’s fading.
In a last, desperate attempt, I gather every ounce of my power and focus it on Cinder. Pupils dilating, all the horrible details come into painfully clear focus.
My thrall, fueled by the depth of my love for her, surges forward, enveloping her. She resisted my father’s ability, but I have something more powerful than he could ever understand. Her trust and consent.
That night I marked her, she let me in and I let her inside of me. I just pray to the fae lords it’s not too late.
“Cinder, drink.”
What little life is left in her responds and she attaches her lips to my wrist. Her suction is weak, barely there, but she’s drinking.
She can take my life. All of it. If she drinks me dry in exchange for five minutes more of life, I’d gladly give my future away for her.
Five minutes so she could drink one last pumpkin spice latte, hug her friends, so I could show her that I love her more than anything in this realm or the next. That I’m not scared to be who I am anymore. I’m not my father. Because I love. I love her more than myself. And that’s something he could never understand.
My head turns light and dizzy as she drinks.
Her hands curl around my arm as she becomes stronger, taking me in faster, harder.
Ravaged skin knits together and I let out a thankful gasp.
“That’s it my gothic goddess, take all of me.” My voice is reedy to my own ears.
Cinder’s head drops finally, her eyes shutting tight as if she’s overwhelmed by some emotion. When they open again even the whites are completely swallowed in black.
“What did you do to her?”
The question comes from Snow who now stands next to me.
It takes a moment to get my throat to work.
“I made her like me.” I use the word she’ll understand. “A vampire.”
Snow’s hand squeezes my shoulder. I’m not sure if it’s in solace or anger.
“She might not want this.” Snow’s words are barely audible.
I pick Cinder up in my arms and trudge along the blood-drenched floor, stepping directly on my father's mottled remains.
“She can kick my ass when she wakes up.”
Chapter 52
