Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
She sees them and yanks her wrists free from my hands. I easily let her go, thinking she might run, but instead she sinks to her knees at my feet. She curls into a fetal position and starts crying.
Wet, wracking sobs, begging me to reconsider. She tips that beautiful face back and tears stream down her cheeks. My heart fucking breaks in half as I witness this woman who never cries expose every vulnerability to me.
“Don’t do this, Amell,” she whispers hoarsely. “You know what my life was like before. Being here, with you, is the only true happiness I’ve ever had. Don’t take it away from me.”
I reach my hand out to her, and she places her palm in mine. I ease her up off the floor and cup her cheeks. “I promise you’ll go back to a better life, Nyssa. You deserve that, and I can’t guarantee your safety here.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“I can’t ensure your happiness, damn it,” I bark at her. It’s not true. I know I can keep her happy for eternity, but if I make her believe otherwise, she’ll go, and that’s best for her. So I give it to her hard and cold. “I don’t want to be responsible for it. You are too much of a responsibility, and I don’t have time for you. It’s not worth the effort, and I don’t want that type of commitment. So I’m telling you to go and be happy. Take this shot at another life rather than the river.”
If I meant to break Nyssa and cut off her feelings for me, I accomplish it with those few words. Her tears immediately stop, although her cheeks remain wet. She pulls away from me and her eyes go dead.
The light just extinguishes, and I watch her rebuild every fucking protective wall she’s ever constructed around herself.
In so few words, I have obliterated every good thing in her life, and along with it, in my life as well.
“It’s for the best,” I offer quietly.
There’s not a flicker of emotion on her face. It’s even worse than when she first arrived, because at least then she was brimming with insolence and sass, when she showed me the promise of what she could be.
Now, she’s less than what she ever was, and I have to push away the doubts racing through me.
I glance at the demigods waiting patiently and give a short nod. Permission to take her.
She doesn’t fight when they each grasp an arm. She doesn’t even look at me again. Merely bows her head and walks placidly between them.
I keep thinking maybe she’ll glance back at me one more time, but she doesn’t. She disappears into the beam of light, and just like that, she’s gone from my life.
“F-u-u-u-c-k!” I roar at the top of my lungs, and the castle shakes so hard, chunks of obsidian rain from the ceiling. In a rage, I turn toward the sideboard and fling it across the suite, fracturing it into a billion splinters against the opposite wall. I pick up the couch and hurl it toward the balcony. It sails through the open doors and over the edge. I kick at a chair and it crashes into the wall, knocking more rock loose.
I turn to the wall closest to me and punch it, my fist going through the rock, pulverizing my bones and shredding my skin. It’s already healing when I pull it back.
“I’ve never seen you throw such a tantrum before.”
I whirl around to see Zora there, and I’m so furious, for a moment I consider attacking her. Not because she deserves it, nor do I think I could beat her, but because if I did, she’d destroy me and end my miserable life.
But I don’t. I need Zora’s help more than ever. “You need to do more than just a reincarnation of Nyssa.”
She cocks a white eyebrow at me, arms folding over her chest. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, put her back into her current life, but in a different place for a fresh start. Set her up for a better existence, and put her near her brother so she can be a part of his life in some way. Make her safe from the police looking for her for Vince’s murder and protect her. You know she deserves it.”
“I don’t know that,” she says.
“You fucking do,” I snarl as I stride into her personal space. Glaring down at her, “Don’t pretend, Zora. You’ve been interfering from the start by giving me that crystal. I don’t know what your game is, but you better not make Nyssa suffer, or I will find a way to end you.”
Zora’s eyes widen with shock, and she has every right to evaporate me. Instead, she murmurs, “I didn’t realize you cared about her so much.”