Stop blaming him. You killed Parker. You’re the monster, an unwanted voice in my subconscious hissed.
But if he hadn’t been there, I would have... What would I have done?
I sensed a presence behind me, and I spun around.
There he floated, tail gleaming like an oil spill, and amber eyes shining with emotion as they met mine. Something about those eyes was so familiar, so comforting after everything we’d been through, but I shoved the feeling deep down, locking my shields to ensure the guy wasn’t using any of his allure on me.
“What do you want?” I snapped, planting my hands on my hips.
Aranare reached for me as if to take my hand, then hesitated and pulled back.
“Are we going to talk about what happened?” he asked softly, a flush rising in his cheeks as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“You didn’t seem so keen to talk inside,” I bit out, my spine stiffening.
He ran a hand through his dark curls with a weary sigh. “I didn’t expect seeing you again to be so hard.”
Something tightened in my heart, but I tossed my hair over my shoulder and turned away from him. “There’s nothing to talk about. What’s done is done.”
“I thought maybe with some time . . . with somespace . . . you might see things differently.”
Tears stung my eyes as I swung back to him. “And how might that be?”
“He hurt you in the name of love—but that’s not love.”
“And what about you going to his house? What did you hurt me in the name of?”
“That’s different,” Aranare breathed. His expression changed, and a sadness seeped out.
“How?”
“I went there to protect you, not wound you.”
A sob tore from my chest as I hurled my goblet into the pool. The last crimson liquid bled into the clear water, reminding me of spilled blood. Parker’s blood. On my hands.
Tears streamed down my face as I rushed forward, pounding my fist against Aranare’s solid form. “You made me a monster. If I hadn’t killed Parker, I wouldn’t have been forced into this scaly, freakish body. I could have... things could have been different... ”
“You’re not a monster,” he whispered, catching my wrists as his eyes locked with mine. He was staring so hard I felt it pinching in my chest.
I glared up at him through teary lashes. “Oh, yeah? What am I then?”
“Aye, you are no longer human. But you are the most captivating creature I have ever seen. I’ve thought this since I first saw you at my uncle’s cafe. This form, all of it... It’s still you. And I think you’re perfect. Not in spite of this. With it. Because of it.”
“Don’t talk to me like this. Don’t youevertalk to me like this,” I cried, struggling to wrench free of his grasp. “Do you know what I have been living with after that night?”
“Skye,” he said softly, and the way he said my name wrapped around my heartand squeezed.
“Let go of me!”
He released my wrists, and I yanked myself free, stepping back with a glare. “I told you I’ll never forgive you.”
His eyes lingered on me for a moment, but he said nothing. I held his gaze, fuming, hating the silence and whatever thoughts hid behind it. When he still said nothing, my cheeks began to burn, so I stalked away with a sharp wave of my arm.
I stormed through the garden, wiping at my eyes as the ache in my throat swelled. Pushing it down, I slipped back into the glittering mosaic chamber, past the mingling Mer.
My eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on Alexandros. Without a word, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the grand archway. As we left, I glanced back. Aranare drifted in the doorway behind me, his face etched with grief as he watched us go.
Something ached in my chest, but I pushed it down, down, down, keeping my arm linked with Alexandros’s as he led me to his chambers.
