Calista stares at me from the doorway, her emerald eyes so bright I could cry.
“I went there to break things off.”
My chest feels too tight to remember how to breathe, so I don’t bother. I just stand there, light-headed, looking at the vixen who completely derailed my plans.
“Why?”
“You know why.”
She doesn’t break eye contact and I wouldn’t have been able to even if I tried.
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Her skin was too soft.” Calista steps into the room, “Smooth and perfect in every way.” Another step and suddenly the gap between us doesn’t look so wide, “I could run my hands from her head to her toes and not find a single groove.”
She comes to a stop in front of me, tilting her head back even though it’s not necessary.
“I didn’t fuck her because I couldn’t stomach the thought of running my hands over a body that hasn’t been ripped apart and stitched back together again.”
Whatever air I thought I had dissolves, leaving me fucking breathless as I stare back at her.
“And I broke things off because I found myself craving the company of someone else.” A ghost of a smile brushes her lips, “I found myself wanting to choose you.”
I used to imagine a day when my mum would say those words. When Cruella would wake up and realize I was always there for her,and wouldn’t it be nice if someone was there for me.
My dreams were always black and white. White and black, bleached of any colour.
Probably because all the colour was waiting for me here in Wolf Hollow.
“You drive me fucking insane.”
It’s what I tell her instead of the truth. A truth neither one of us are ready to admit just yet.
“Don’t tell me you’re starting to catch feelings, Devil.”
It's a joke, a tease to lighten the tension flooding the space between us.
Too fucking late for that.
“Get on your knees, Miss Drache. And I’ll show you exactly how I’m feeling.”
A grenade gets thrown into the fire, sending heat spiraling in every direction. Flames lick the outer parts of my skin, scorching and burning until there’s nothing but an empty ache.
A hole carved in the shape of Calista Drache.
“Don’t make me ask again, darling.”
Her canines pop out when her smile widens, the pink bud of her tongue slipping past her lips. I watch the queen of Wolf Hollow sink to her knees and stare up at me with that playful grin I thought she’d given to someone else today.
“Am I being punished?”
Eyelashes bat towards me, her eyes skittering over the gruesome state of my neck like it’s just another part of me. An extension that doesn’t deserve a second glance, a wound that doesn’t call for any sort of pity.
She just looks at me.
And chooses not to look away.
“Tongue out.”
