Adriana looked around the room, taking in the small bedroom. The large bed she sat on took up the majority of the space, it was covered in soft white sheets with green knitted blankets. There was a small bedside table on either side, a chest of drawers and wardrobe in one corner of the room, and the wicker chair where Xander sat in the other. The walls were a similar colour to the green blankets, and the window frame was made of the same oak as the bed. She surveyed the books that lined the shelves on the walls, an array of classics and Daemonium stories. It was a beautiful room, exactly how Adriana had imagined she would decorate if she had ever had the chance to stay in one place long enough.
“Where are we?”
Xander smiled as he followed her gaze around the room. “Somewhere safe,” he replied.
“And when can I leave?”
“When you are in control.”
Adriana laughed at him as she threw the blankets off her and stood from the bed, searching for her things. She tried to appear as though his presence didn’t affect her, as though she couldn’t care less that he was in the same room with her.
“WhenI’min control? That’s a bit hypocritical coming from you, isn’t it?”
Xander said nothing, he just watched her walk around the room. She realised her boots were on the floor right next to where he sat and stared at them, not wanting to be any closer tohim. He glanced down at her shoes before bringing his gaze back to her pained expression.
“What’s wrong? Worried I’ll bite?”
Adriana clenched her fists in anger, staring daggers at him from across the room. She knew what he was doing; she’d seen his tactic so many times before. She knew when he was trying to make himself her enemy, to give her someone to aim her anger at, but she wasn’t having it.
“Don’t you dare make jokes with me. Don’t you fucking dare!”
“Good, get mad. Get angry with me, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me that. I know what you’re doing, so stop it. You don’t get to speak to me like that. You don’t get to call me that!”
Xander smirked at her from his chair, his tired eyes filling with what seemed to be pride. He was goading her as best he could and, as much as she wanted to ignore it, she was itching to unleash her fury upon him.
“I am not your sweetheart,” Adriana raged. “I am not youranything, not anymore!”
“And why is that? Tell me, why are you not mine?”
“You know why! Because of what you did to me, what you made me into!”
Adriana’s body swayed as she began to cry, her tears spilling down her cheeks. She flinched as he stood and reached to her, only letting herself breathe again once he put his hands into his pockets.
“Tell me what I did, Adriana. Tell me everything. Let it all out.”
Adriana backed away from him, holding a hand to her chest as she sobbed. She shook her head frantically at him, not wanting to face her past, not wanting to face what had happened. Not wanting to face him.
Her mind ran wild with terrible thoughts—thoughts of wishing she had died all those years ago, wishing she had never woken up. She wished she had let herself starve when she realised shewas a Lamia, she wished she’d walked into her burning house to join her family, she wished she had let the man at the train station kill her.
“Confront it,” Xander firmly said, taking slow steps towards her. “Let it out, Adriana. Take it all out on me. I hurt you, so hurt me. Use me to feel whole again.”
Adriana backed up against the wall as he continued to walk towards her. She shut her eyes, refusing to look at him, refusing to let herself feel anything for him.
“I can’t, I can’t do it! It hurts, it hurts so much.”
“BecauseIhurt you. So fight me, hurt me back. I will take whatever you give me, whatever you throw at me. I owe you at least that much.”
She snapped her eyes open when she felt his breath fan her face. She pulled at her hair, shaking her head as the tears continued to fall as she struggled to maintain her control. It hurt so much. Everything she had been through, everything he had put her through, the pain was indescribable.
“Why?” she sobbed. “Why did you do that to me? How could you?”
Xander placed his hands on her face, his touch cooling her hot skin. She continued to stutter and cry as he held her, and she realised his face was also stained with tears.
“I’m sorry, Adriana, I am so sorry. I would never have hurt you, I would never have done that. I couldn’t stop it, I had no control of it after Striga died. I loved you, you must know that. I still…”
Adriana started to lose focus on Xander’s words at the mention of her great-grandmother; the same woman that had supported him, helped him, and trusted him. Only for her to die at the hand of the man she thought was her friend.
