My fingers find her wrist, the gun still in her hand.
“Karia,” I whisper as fights break out behind me. I hear Isa snarl, footsteps as if someone is running, and another pair as if someone else is giving chase.
Karia’s cerulean eyes reach mine in the dark. They are wide.
Her complexion seems drained.
And it takes me several blinks to see a gun held to her head.
But it is not Klein. Or Stein. Or Constance or either of the other guards holding it to her temple.
My lungs compress.
The gun in my own hand feels useless as I squeeze Karia’s wrist once more.
There is a guttural sound in the distance. Someone choking on their own blood. I know what that sounds like. My mother. Mercy. She flashes inside my head.
But it is Cosmo de Actis, holding Karia as a shield, as a hostage, that I am seeing now in the darkness of the room, his bright green eyes locked onto mine. Otherwise, his expression is blank.
Karia is limp in his hold. She is not trying to get away. There is a look of shock carved onto her gorgeous face, in the circle of her soft lips.
She opens her mouth as if to speak, but nothing comes out.
“Cosmo.” I say his name, not letting go of my angel.
He drags her backward, that gun to her head, and I follow, as if I am on a leash.
“Drop your weapon,” Cosmo says, staring right back at me as we go deeper into a corner of the room where it seems we are alone. No one knows what is happening to us, just as I do not know what is happening around me.
And even though it is the two men I hate more than anyone else in the world inside this house, I find I no longer care. I would forgive them if only to ensure this blonde princess who owns me completely escapes without pain.
I don’t drop the gun. “What are you doing?” It is the only thing I can think to say. But didn’t I know this would happen? Don’t I, more than anyone, know that “friend” is a fiction? A myth? Something which will never happen in my world.
Cosmo turns his head. His lips press to Karia’s ear.
She stiffens.
My stomach feels as if it is being shredded to pieces.
I bite the inside of my cheek so hard, I taste a tang.
Stop.I want to scream it.
Another gunshot goes off somewhere further in the house. It sounds as if there are cats tearing this place up. Obliterating all the memories and pain and ache of beinghere.Before, I thought I would want to burn it down. This, the house on Ritual Drive. But being here with Karia, what we did, what we’ll do, I find Iwantit. A thing that felt impossible just days ago. Now, I can see it. Her, here with me, always. Out of Writhe, out of this mess, away from the pain, she would wallpaper over everything terrible that ever happened to me.
More than that, she is like brick. An impenetrable shield to the outside. The one who carved my heart from my chest and held it between her pretty little fingers. She is everything.
And Cosmo de Actis will not take her from me.
“Tell him to let us go, Princess,” Cosmo says, his eyes never leaving mine as his mouth touches her and my skin crawls.
Mine.I want to scream it at the top of my lungs.She is fucking mine.
I tighten my hold on her wrist. I wish I had no gloves on. I wish it was my bare skin against her own.
“Cosmo,” she gasps, her voice hushed. A whimper. She is as shocked as I am, and it is the only thing that gives me some small measure of comfort. She did not betray me.
He betrayed us.
