Oziel’s eyes darken, but when I blink, it’s gone, and he’s back to smiling, making me think I just made up what I saw. “Some people deserve to be put to death. Others die too soon in life.”
I wait for him to say more, but Oziel purses his lips. There’s more he’s not saying. How many people has Oziel had to kill? Has he lost anyone he loved? Those questions have to wait because we’re talking about me now.
I find myself wanting to share. Erin would know soon enough, but there’s no harm in Oziel hearing it too. Despite our tumultuous relationship, he’s the only one who can see the sin and darkness in me and not shy away. I’ve never had that before. It’s…refreshing.
Even though I’ve accepted that I’ll tell Oziel the truth, I can’t stop my heart from beating wildly in my chest, threatening to burst from its confinement. If Oziel hears it from his perch on the opposite side of the bed, he makes no comment. His eyes—black voids with golden embers smoldering in their depths—never waver from me.
“I had an older sister named Anna,” I say, barely above a whisper. I haven’t spoken about my sister in so long. She’s a ghost that haunts me still—will probably forever haunt me. I might not cry myself to sleep every night, but it doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten her or that I’m suddenly fine with her passing. The grief comes in unexpected waves.
“Anna was kind. Sweet. She liked to read and go to weird cafes for tea. She was the best big sister ever.” I sniffle, holding back my emotions. “But she waskind to a fault. The type of good that people exploit. She had never really been in any long-term relationships, so when she told me she was dating James, a guy she met while working at a convenience store, I was a bit surprised by it.
“I didn’t know anything about the man. He never came around much, and when he did, he never stayed long. He always had his arm around Anna, like she couldn’t go anywhere without him.”
Oziel makes a disapproving sound but doesn’t interrupt.
“Anna started to change. It was small things at first. Getting scared when I approached her too fast. Spending hours in her room. Covering her face. We’d lost our parents, so admittedly, it took me longer to realize than it should have. I’m sure my mother would have picked up on it a lot sooner…” I mumble the last part. Our mother was always good at picking up when things were wrong. As a child, I thought it was annoying, but as an adult, I think it was her superpower.
“When I finally confronted Anna, she broke down and started crying. That’s when she told me about the abuse. I saw the bruises on her, Oziel. They were all over her body. She also told me he was dating someone else and had been for a long time. Years, even. Anna only found out about it when she caught him at the bar with another woman. Her name was Erin.”
“Ah,” Oziel says at last, connecting the dots I’ve carefully crafted for him. “This is why you are interested in speaking to the Kraken queen.”
“Kinda, but not for the reasons you think,” I admit. “My sister was devastated. She tried leaving him a few times, but it always ended badly. She felt trapped. Like nothing she could do would ever free her from him. I think James might have threatened to hurt me. It’s the only thing I can think of as to why she would stay with him for as long as she did.
“Then one night, I got home late from work. Traffic was terrible because we were experiencing a massive rainstorm. Anna was usually in her room, so I didn’t think it was weird that the house was quiet when I got home. I made myself dinner, watched TV, before finally going upstairs. I was tired, so tired from work, but I wanted to check on Anna—just to let her know I was home. But when I opened the door…”
The day is forever etched in my brain. The coldness of the house. The all too quiet silence. A heaviness clung to the house; one I didn’t notice until it was too late. Maybe I could have saved her. Who’s to say? I’ve beaten myself up over it for so long. I don’t know how long she had been there. If I would have gone straight to her instead of eating and watching TV, then maybe…
“When I opened the door, I found Anna face down on her bed. Her room smelled heavily of vomit, and I ran to her, but she was so cold to the touch. Her skin had turned this awful blue color. That’s when I noticed the pills—” A sob tears through my body at the same time Oziel reaches for my hand. It’s a small, gentle touch. But it gives me something to focus on other than my own grief. It’s an anchor in a rough sea of emotions.
“She took her own life,” I finally manage to get out. “I think she felt it was the only way to free herself of James.James may not have physically murdered my sister, but I blame him for her death. Her death is on his hands.”
“He killed your sister.” Oziel speaks the words with such conviction, I tip my head up. He’s the only one who has ever believed me without question. He’s resolute in his words, the tension in his jaw the only indicator of his fury. Funny how I can read these little signs after a short period with him.
“For months leading up to my sister’s death, we went to the police to make reports of the physical abuse James put her through,” I say. “The emotional abuse wasn’t much better, but that didn’t leave marks, so there was little we could do. They only cared about the physical marks, but even then, they always had a way of doubting the victim.”
It was always the same story.James is a good guy. Do you really want to hurt his reputation? How can we believe you didn’t get those marks from someone else? Isn’t he dating a woman named Erin?
“And not a single cop did anything. This went on for months, until Anna died,” I whisper.
“These are the people meant to protect humans?” Oziel asks, reminding me we come from different worlds. I nod, looking down at our clasped hands. Then Oziel places a finger under my chin, tipping up my head, so I’m forced to meet his gaze. “Tell me how you killed him, Kitten.”
There’s a wicked gleam in his eyes, like hearing this story is intoxicating to him. Maybe it is.
When he drops his hand from my chin, I’m instantly transported back to the day. “I drove myself to the cornerstore because I knew James stopped there every morning for beer. I arrived before him, but it didn’t take long until I saw his mud-covered truck pull into an empty parking spot.
“I remember my hand tightened around the gun?—”
“Gun?” he interrupted.
Again, our differences elude me until now. “It’s a deadly weapon.”
Oziel seems far too invested in a gun. I wouldn’t be surprised if, by next month, he has designed his own version of one. But he nods for me to continue, falling silent so I can finish my confession.
“He had no clue I was there, holding a gun to his back. I wanted him to see my face when I pulled the trigger, so I called his name. When he turned and saw the gun, the bastard fucking laughed like it was some sort of joke. Like I was just some random girl he could easily manipulate into handing him over the gun.”
“Seems like this pathetic excuse of flesh didn’t realize he was facing the demon queen,” Oziel interjects.
I feel my cheeks heat. “I wasn’t the demon queen back then. I was just Isabelle.”
