Caspian cards his fingers through my hair, “He was harming his wife, My Dove. Probably his children, too. The whole house was afraid of him.”
“And now they don’t have to be,” Fritz adds. “They got his life insurance since hewastechnically murdered and she’s not even implicated in the crime at all. They’re better off now than they were with that monster haunting their home.”
“But that wasn’t your call to make, Fritz. Caspian. You don’t get to be judge and jury and executioner.” How can they not understand that?
With a sigh, Caspian tells me, “Darling girl. As unorthodox as it is, by way of our nature, wearejudge, jury, and executioner. We can feel how vile someone is, how much they crave harming others. And the monster inside us aches to smother that evil before it can spread.”
“You cannot forget what we are, Songbird.Weare what the monsters fear. We are not mortal, and you cannot expect us to act as if we are. That man was actively hurting others. Would you have told us to let it continue?” Fritz asks, and I begrudgingly see his point.
I don’t want to. I want to believe they could be more than the monsters they see themselves as. But if they’re here to prevent evil, who am I to stop them?
Then there’s their other admittance, “But you still lied to me.”
Taking a sharp breath through his teeth, Fritz admits, “We did. The plan wasalwaysto tell you upon our return. We had no intention of hiding it from you.” Caspian nods in agreement before Fritz adds, “But then the kidnapping, and your hand, and moving, andChristmas. I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.”
I nod, still reeling over this change in our dynamic that I’ve been unaware of, “So, wait.”
They wait, just as requested, and I continue, “So you guys really don’t have like… feelings for each other?”
“No,” Fritz shrugs, using the opportunity to pull me closer by my legs, practically climbing on top of me where I lie against Caspian, “We only want you in that… sappy…feelingsway, silly girl. We enjoyed fucking each other before you came along, andcertainlystill do, but there’s never been anything…romanticabout it.”
The thought makes my head spin, “So all this,” I gesture around us, “wasn’t for Caspian to be here. It was just…”
“Just for you,” he clarifies, whispering against my lips. “All of this is because of you.”
“I thought it was- I don’t know,” I admit, covering my eyes with a hand before Caspian pulls it away, not allowing me to hide from the insecurities trying to surface.
“Did you think you were a bonus?” Fritz sounds offended at the thought, “That I wanted Caspian here and whether or not you came along, I’d be fine? That’s what you’ve been keeping from me for weeks now? The niggling deception and insecurity that’s been festering within you?”
“Well, I-” I try to explain, “I just…”
“Even after the wholesoulmateconversation?” Fritz looks thoroughly distraught, shocked by my questioning his motives.
My chest starts to feel heavy, “Well, I thought for sure I’m Caspian’s, but-”
“But you are unsure about me?” His voice is pained.I’m just fucking this up worse.
“NO,” I hold up a palm to stop his worrying. “Ihave always been sure about you. I just thought thatyouwere unsure about… me,” I shrug.
He seems utterly flabbergasted, “You honestly think I want Caspian more than you? No offense, Cas.”
“None taken. The idea is absurd.”
I freeze in the snare of Fritz’s expression of disbelief and frustration, “Well, no. I mean, yes, I thought it was a possibility. Just like in the back of my head, because you guys were also seeing each other without me.”
“But we weren’t,” Caspian interjects.
“Well, yeah. I know thatnow.But I didn’t a fucking second ago, did I?” I snark. Fritz’s eyebrows shoot up, his gaze meeting Caspian’s over my shoulder, and instantly, I know I fucked up.
“My, my. That is a very brave tone for someone trapped between two monsters,” Caspian mutters in that low, smoky tone he reserves for lulling me into his wicked games. Almost instantly, my self-consciousness is replaced with the fear and need these two are so skilled at pulling from me.
“I- no. I didn’t mean to. I’m just reeling from all this,” I ask Fritz for help silently, hoping my expression will gain me an ally and not another torturer.
He gives me a half-smile, leaning in to speak against my lips, “You are ours, Bel. But make no mistake.Webelong to you. Not each other. ‘Kay?” I nod the best I can in my current position, and he proceeds, “Good. Now that that’s been cleared up, I think that smart mouth needs to learn a lesson.”
Caspian twirls a lock of my hair, the dark strands moving in the corner of my eye, “I don’t think she truly understands the mess she’s signed up here for, Fritzy. She still seems to believe you’re more mortal than monster. You’ve gone too soft on her.”
“I most definitely have not gonesoft, Cas.” Fritz teases back, eyes never leaving mine, “Some of us just don’t have your propensity for walking around and scraping our antlers on the ceiling.”
