She’s holding the blade that stabbed me in the chest all those years ago and started my lifetime of misery.
No matter what I feel for her, it isn’t real. She’s fake. She’s been sent here to fucking torture me.
The Devil sent her—It must have.
This is punishment, isn’t it? What did I do to deserve this?
“All of this was never real,” I say, the words like poison on my tongue. The shock on her face isn’t real either; it’s all a fucking lie. “Even for me.”
She shakes her head. “Don’t—You said you cared about me.”
I let out a laugh. “No. Just because you were on my cock doesn’t mean you matter to me. It was all just fun to pass the time.” I grimace, sneering at the next word. “Mindless.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Unlike you, Sable, I don’t lie and manipulate to get my way.”
She goes to grab my shirt, but I back away. “Lynx, listen to me.”
“Stay the fuck away from me.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening? Talk to me.”
“Do you plan on killing me with that again?”
“What? Lynx?—”
“Don’t you fuckingdaresay my name whenyouand your family are the reason I’m here—like this. What? Turning me into a demon wasn’t enough, so they sent you to finish the job. I’ll fucking kill you first.”
“That’s not even slightly true.”
Lies. All lies.
My hands fist, and the words come out before I can stop them. “I was falling in love with you, and all along you were one of those fucking snakes.”
Her eyes widen at my admission. “Lynx…”
I try to walk away from her, turning and aiming for the door, but as she goes to grab my arm and stop me, I spin to face her.
My eyes are glowing red, my skin already shifting as horns erupt from my head, and power shoots around me, smashing all the windows and obliterating the furniture. She’s instantly terrified of me, backing away, and that fear is enough to makeher jolt, sending the blade up so it ends up buried between my ribs.
Every bit of my demon shrinks back inside me when the metal impales my flesh, my soul shattering into a million pieces, déjà vu of my own nightmare as my blood spills onto her hand. The room is spinning; vomit curdles up my throat—I can’t fucking see. What’s happening to me?
There’s no pain. Only disgust and betrayal. Her eyes are wide and wet, but she’s a liar and worse: a fucking Eldrith.
All of this is her and her family’s fault.
“L-Lynx.” My name is a whisper on her lips as she yanks the blade out. “I’m sorry. I?—”
A maniacal, humorless laugh bubbles from my chest at the irony. “It’s in your blood,” I say, ignoring the pain in my chest—not from the blade buried in my skin but from the way the traitorous girl is staring at me like she’s innocent. “Your family did this to me, and you couldn’t help but follow in their footsteps.” I point a finger at her. “Stay away from me, Sable. That’s a fucking warning.”
I turn my back on her and push open the door, the wound bleeding down my side and soaking my clothes as I hurry down the stairs.
Sable isn’t coming after me. Why would she? This was her plan all along. I bet she isn’t even a ghost. I bet she isn’t even fuckinghuman.
The thought hits me, and I freeze, my blood running cold. Blinking, I glance to each side, wondering if I’m still being tortured in Hell and this isn’t even real. Of course this is something they’d do—make me think I’ve escaped and fallen for a girl who’s broken my heart and made me feel like I’m dying over and over again from fucking grief.
I lift my hands and stare at my shaking palms before swallowing the lump in my throat and pushing my body to move down the hallway, the staircase, and out into the courtyard.
