Page 240 of Damsel in Disguise

I muffle a giggle and say to Alistair. “And you have to recover.”

He exhales slowly. “That sounds less like a request.”

“Yup. It’s a condition of the contract.”

“What contract?”

“The one where you decided to stay.”

Outside the hospital window, the sun is beginning to rise.

My brothers quietly leave the room in the meantime.

Neither of them says goodbye. They simply close the door behind them and trust that I understand.

I do.

Our family has never been good at saying the important things.

We threaten.

We argue.

We hand each other employment contracts and marriage certificates.

And when push comes to shove, we stand in front of bullets.

I look at the man lying in front of me.

At the bandages.

At the exhaustion hidden behind blue eyes.

At our signatures sitting side by side on the paper.

Monsters, I think, are not born. They are made. But perhaps they can choose.

Perhaps they can look at a ruined world and decide that one person is worth remaining human for.

Alistair brings my attention back to him again. “You’re overthinking again.”

I give him a witty smirk.

“What conclusion did you reach?” he returns the smirk.

I smile despite myself. “That you’re never getting rid of me.”

With all the solemnity of a scientist presenting an undeniable truth, he says. “I never planned to.”

66. EPILOGUE

alistair

ONE YEAR LATER

My entire life was spent believing love is simply another weakness waiting to be exploited.

A flaw in human design.