My gut warned me, and I ignored it forhim,blinded by my feelings insteadof logic.
“Sweetheart?”
I flinched, the shards of my heart grinding together.
“Lucille?” Aspen touched my shoulder, attempting to turn me around.
“Don’t touch me.” I wrenched out of his hold, biting my wobbling lip hard before facing him. The taste of copper trickled into my mouth, but I barely noticed.
Aspen searched my face, then thoroughly scoured our surroundings before the concern tugging on his lips flatlined. “So you finally figured it out.”
Finally,as if I should’ve known from the beginning—and I should’ve. I should’ve known all of this was too good to be true, that his behavior was different. But I wanted to believe I was with the real Aspen—the one without secrets, hidden agendas, and uncontrolled by Lilith.
“I’m not sure. Are you actually even Aspen?”
“Good question.” He imagined two chairs and plopped himself in one, sitting back. “I’m the Aspen you were with in Elora.”
At least he wasn’t Lilith. Something clicked into place at that thought, and I laughed, the sound a broken, half-version of itself. He may not be Lilith, but Iguaranteethe figure I saw in our last dream-walk was—and I bet that wasn’t the only time she showed up. Which meant she either had some rune or power to infiltrate dreams, or she was a dream-walker, andthatwas where I got my power from. Not from my mother, father, or their Weaver—from the evil bitch who made my birth possible.
“Let me guess, Aspen.You’re Hell Runed.”
He switched his leather uniform for a short-sleeved tunic and pants, looking at his wrists. “No, I’m not.”
He kept his arms turned up and rested them on his legs, revealing two red-black Hell Runes, showing me his lie, and confirming Lilith controlled what he could and couldn’t say. Did that mean she controlled what hedidtoo?
A lump traveled up my throat. He did things to me I’d never done with anyone else. I was vulnerable and nervous, but I’d felt like it was okay. He had me. He’d guided me through my nerves with that desire in his eyes and those gorgeous dimples. I had trusted him, given a piece of myself to him that no one else had. I thought it meant something to him.
Clearly. Fucking. Not.
“Did she watch us?” My voice cracked.
He flinched like it hurt him. His usually vibrant blues seemed to hold shame. But as great as it was to see, it didn’t make me feel better.
“Did you put on a good show for her? Did I?”
He dropped my heated stare to his hands, stomping on whatever remained of my heart.
“She commanded you to be nice to me too, didn’t she? So I’d spill all my secrets?” I yelled, searching his face for the answers, knowing it was the only thing that made sense.
I was so fucking naïve. And stupid.
“Glad you’re not floundering anymore, sweetheart,” he whispered, sounding sad and exhausted.
I tilted my head to the overcast sky, blinking back the stinging in my eyes, covering my mouth, and locking my knees from buckling.Every part of me wanted to drop to the grass and scream, to grieve the fake male I fell for. He was an illusion. One big, fat lie.
I held tightly to our tender moments in Elora, to who hecouldbe, and his poisonous words snuck into my weak heart.
I should’ve listened to my gut.
Knowing I couldn’t hold it all in much longer, I forced my tears back and looked at him again. I waited until he met my gaze and told him the one secret I’d been hiding, wanting to hurt him as badly as he’d hurt me.
“Your first love, Nalini—she’s living in Hell now, and she’d be so disgusted with you.”
Aspen’s face blanched right before he cried out, and the runes on his wrists pulsed with light—the same old song and dance.
“Enjoy rotting with Lilith,” I snapped, then forced myself out of the dream-walk.
I quietly slipped outof bed, put on a robe, and left Oliver to his sleep. Tears trickled down my face as I walked through the halls, half-aware. When I reached the hidden doorway and stepped out onto the castle roof, I ignored the snow burning the bottoms of my feet. I fell to my knees, and they cracked against the dark stone. Then I tilted my head back to the black sky and screamed.
