Not to mention whatever the fuck had happened at my supposed execution.
Had I been under the influence of the weapon then? Silently screaming for help while Lilith faked my death?
According to Ismerelda’s mind, Darius had been there. He’d renounced me because I’d apparently told him to.
Had I confided in him more than in Ismerelda?
Hearing her memories, and knowing her the way I’d come to know her over these few short weeks, confused me. Because I had no idea why my former self would block her out.
To protect me,she whispered.You always promised to protect me. Never hurt me. Never let anyone touch me. Yet you… you left me here… to die.
I grasped her chin to pull her head back gently. Only, her eyes were still closed. She was talking to me as though we were in a dream.
I’m dead,I heard her marvel to herself.He let me die. How cruel that the afterlife places me right back in his arms… Unless… Is hemyCam?
My eyes narrowed.We’re both versions ofyourCam, little lioness.My version just happened to be the superior one. Because my version wouldn’t abandon Ismerelda for an asinine cause like saving the old world.
Humans had tried to weaponize supernaturals. In what warped sense of reality had mortals expected to win that battle? They’d created a war and they’d lost. Just like they should have.
Lioness,Ismerelda repeated several times.No, no.Hecalls me that. The evil Cam. The one without a heart.
Her despair struck me right in the organ she claimed I lacked, leaving me momentarily breathless.You think I’m evil?
Left me to die,she started saying now, the broken sentence echoing in her mind with visions of vampires surrounding her. Forcing her to her knees. Shredding her clothes. Penetrating her?—
Stop,I snarled, not wanting to see that memory again. Instead, I forced an image of their deaths into her mind, making her relive what came next from my point of view.
I let her feel my fury. Myagony. Showed in slow motion how I’d ripped their heads off their bodies, killing them all instantly.
I should have made them suffer,I told her.But I needed to prioritize you, to make sure you were okay.
My throat worked as I tried to swallow, the pain of that moment intensified by her own torment and fear.
They’d bitten her. Played with her.Hurther. All to drag out the moment, to taunt her with what they’d intended to do.
It didn’t happen,I promised her.I didn’t let it happen. You’re okay.“You’re alive,” I added out loud, right against her ear.
She stirred in my arms, her naked body sleek and wet against mine.
“You’re safe,” I continued. “They didn’t fuck you.” Not in the way that would have ended our bond, anyway. “I killed them.” That seemed to be worth repeating. “Everything is okay.”
I heard her mind processing my words.New Camfloated along her thoughts.Evil Camswiftly followed.
“Ismerelda, I?—”
A scream rent the air before I could finish speaking.
A loud, angry,soul-destroyingscream.
I flinched, my hands instinctively going to my ears.
Which was precisely the wrong thing to do.
Because the moment I released Ismerelda, she leapt up and out of the tub, slid across the slick tile floors, and collapsed onto her hands and knees.
The sob that followed caused me to freeze in the tub behind her. Mostly because I overheard the thought that had accompanied that sound.
I’m alive. God, I’malive. Why? Why do this to me? Why wouldn’t you just let me die?
