I’m about to ask Angel if I’m finally free to do as I please when a loud thud stops me. Turning away from Micah, I find Seiji flat on the ground with a banana peel crushed beneath his leg. Everyone bursts out laughing, and from the corner of my eye, I see Harvey recording the entire ordeal.
Using their distraction in my favor, I swiftly move my dagger to cut off all the fingers on the warlock’s left hand in a single move. The attention immediately shifts back to the man screaming through the gag in his mouth.He just can’t shut up today.
“Nevaeh,” Angel tries to interfere, but I raise my hand that’s dripping with the warlock’s blood, and it halts his approach.
“I’ve waited long enough.”
I do the same with Micah’s other hand, only much slower this time to make the pain last longer. I carve his chest next and internally praise myself for my artwork.
‘S-C-A-R-E-D Y-E-T?’
I knew the words would trigger Angel. He has seen those exact words on my thigh. The words that became a scar—a permanent scar.
The night he found me rocking back and forth on our bathroom floor still haunts him. I wanted to burn my flesh or slice that piece of my skin to erase the reminder of my time in that cell, but there was no way Angel would let me do that to myself.
That night my mate saw just how broken Nevaeh Blackburn is. He witnessed me break down in his arms, but instead of leaving me on the floor, he collected my pieces gently and held them in his palm until I was ready to be glued back together with his help.
Angel took me to Grace, who whipped out a potion that burned my skin hotter than hell. It took hours for the pain to become tolerable. The scar faded more and more each day until I was free of the memory that came with it.
Grace had been secretly working on that rare potion since the day she met Harvey. She wanted to be prepared in case the markings from Fates triggered Harvey or made his old bruises flare up. Fortunately, Fates took pity on him and freed him of every scar that reminded him he was ever alone or broken.
Grace offered to make more, but the pain you experience as the potion works is a reminder of what I went through. No amount of scar-free skin is worth revisiting that pain again.
Angel doesn’t intervene anymore, but it doesn’t stop him from standing right behind me in case I need him.
“You remember that night, Micah? Remember carving my fear into me again and again, making me beg for mercy?” Grabbing his bloody cheeks in my hand, I squeeze until I hear his cheekbones crack. “I want you to beg me for mercy. Beg as I did, or I’m going to continue carving you like a piece of wood,” I sneer.
“You are an… an abomination. Made to r-ruin my kind. I w- warned the queen to let me deal with you but she wanted you alive.” I can’t say I don’t admire his stupidity because it gives me a chance to drag this on. The hatred in his eyes only makes this easier on me.
“Like you tried todealwith me that night?”
The silence behind me makes me worry if I’ve said too much, but if I don’t lay it all out now, I won’t get another chance to. I can’t move on until I put my past in the grave once and for all. I can’t let the shadows of my past steal the light from my future.
Micah smirks with his bloody teeth, the courage of a dying man finding him. “I would’ve gotten what I wanted if it weren’t for the boy.” I grit my teeth, thinking about that night.
A shuffling sound behind me makes me glance back to find Hazel sitting on the floor with her daggers laid out like she’s waiting for a signal before unleashing the rage hiding behind her calm exterior.
With a sly smirk, I ask her for a spoon. Hazel gives a baffled look before complying. Digging in her bag, she hands me a cold steel spoon, which I use to scoop an eyeball—or two.
At some point, my sister leaves tolook around,but the whispers of revenge make it hard for me to keep track of anything except making Micah suffer.
I memorize the terror on Micah’s face and the pain in his eyes, hoping to replace it with memories of his touch. I’ve been where he is and all he did was enjoy the show like a coward, never once meeting my eyes.
I pull down the gag, wanting to hear him plead and grovel for his life before I end it because no matter what his last words might be, I didn’t come here to forgive. I came here toforget.
“I-I’m s-sorry… y-you ca-can have a-anything you want… p- please… I-I’m so-sorry…”
With his last words, I walk behind him to avoid the disgusting splashes of his blood on me when I slice his neck slowly. Hearing him choke on his blood is music to my ears. I cover his mouth with the gag to make the process more agonizing.
I must look like a maniac, a satisfied smile on my face with blood covering me, but the memories of that night hurt a little less now. After what he tried, I don’t regret a single thing I did to this filthy man.
“You’re too scary sometimes, even for me.” Harvey breaks my daze, nodding at me slightly. His relieved smile assures me that it’s over now. I can finally bury this part of my past and never look back.
Harvey understands the importance of this moment because, after all, he was there that night. I will forever be grateful he gained consciousness when he did because he saved me from something that would’ve forced me in a direction where meeting my Angel and my family would’ve been a faraway dream.
Angel walks to me, and I bet I’m about to get the tightest hug of my life with his arms squishing me to his chest, but then I hear it…marching troops.
Motherfuc—
