I didn’t know whether to believe him. Was I willing to take that risk?
The Prince shook his head, throat trembling. “What I say now is the truth, no matter how it hurts. No more, darling. I won’t be your puppeteer any longer.”
Then he did something I hadn’t quite expected. Sitri closed the distance between us. He embraced me, pulled me against him, bathed me in his warmth and his smoky, sandalwood scent. Pain lanced through my chest from where he crushed my wound against his body. I didn’t care.His attention always felt this way—gentle, coercive, decadent, agonizing—even so, I couldn’t get enough.
I drew a shuddering breath, wanting to return the gesture, unable to force myself. In holding him, I’d be admitting a truth I wanted to keep concealed, giving him another tool to control me. My body wouldn’t allow that. Instead, I closed my eyes, basking in him, hoping to ward off the tears already gathering. There was nothing I could do, nothing left to say.
It was so unlike Sitri to offer me comfort unless it furthered his own ends, but this?
This felt real.
As quickly as the moment came, it ended.
Sitri released me and stepped back. In his wake, he left me aching, longing for what I’d never have.
I wanted to believe him, to trust that he’d keep his word, to let him in, no matter the cost. He looked so fragile, his face twisted and his powerful facade stripped away. Did he really mean what he said, or had he conjured an illusion to lure me into complacency, so attractive that, in another world, I might have followed him to my demise?
My heart yearned for what would never be—a life here in this mansion, in a time after the war, when Vapula was only a distant memory. Kind words. Gentle touches. A place where no secrets needed to be kept, filled with comfort and love.
A home I got to choose.
A home that had never existed, and likely never would.
“If you wanted to tell me, you should have,” I said.
Sitri winced. His reaction hit me like a punch to the gut.
“I should have. I hope that one day I might earn your forgiveness.”
“I hope so, too, and I wish you luck—it won’t be easy, Sitri.” All I managed was a weak, forced smile.
I turned around and started down the hallway. The Prince didn’tfollow. Part of me wished he had, but deep down, I believed this was for the best. The demons seated in the dining room must have heard the commotion. He would have to face them alone.
Sitri returned to the table, and I returned to my bedroom.
By the time I made my way there, my adrenaline and anger had dissipated, leaving exhaustion in their wake. I locked the door behind me, lit the lantern on the desk, and threw myself down on the bed. I wanted to cry out my feelings, to shed them, so I might finally be rid of them, but I had no strength left for that.
I tried to force myself to rest, hoping sleep would come.
It didn’t.
I lay there motionless for hours. There was no telling how many. When I opened my eyes again, my lantern still burned. All was quiet. I studied each fold of my blankets, of the sheets, of the long, flickering shadows they cast. As I followed the crease of the comforter, I saw it, just beneath the rim.
Small, dark, glinting like a gemstone. The thing was beautiful. Its bone-like shape and sparkling onyx hue transfixed me. I reached for it, but when I moved, the gem moved with it.
My heart raced as I realized what it was.
I rolled over onto my back. Held my hand up to the light, my throat tightening as the nightmare I beheld stole away my breath and drained the blood from my face.
The tips of my fingers had dissolved into thin air. All that remained was my skeleton, black as night, strung together by an invisible force.
I opened my mouth, and then I broke the silence of the mansion with my scream.
