Her ranting turns inarticulate as she begins to mumble under her breath.
I watch her warily for a few moments before finally interjecting. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me the full story. How do you know Delaney? What did she do to you?”
Mrs. Harthorne stops pacing abruptly and then whirls to face me, her eyes flaring with a predatorial lethality that has something akin to fear churning in my stomach. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that she’s a cold-blooded Hunter who has killed people like me just because we’re different. But when she’s staring at me like that, with fire from hell flaring in her eyes, it’s clear as day.
Her mind may be broken, but she’s still a threat.
“Delaney”—she practically spits the name—“killed my husband. And once she knows the truth about Ansel, she’ll kill him too.” Her tears begin to fall faster and faster, leaving streaks on her gaunt cheeks. “If he’s not already dead.”
Forty
ANSEL
It’s been one week without Izzy, and I’m going insane.
I use the time to think through everything I learned from Soraya.
All I need to do is kiss Izzy.
How hard can that be?
Forgetting the fact, of course, that I’ve never kissed a girl before…
I’ve never wanted to before Izzy. School and grades consumed my every waking moment. I was determined to be the best in all things, so girls took a back seat during that time. Mom thought I was gay. She told me that she would still love and support me, regardless of my sexual preferences. I told her I liked girls and just hadn’t found the right one.
Mom…
Thoughts of my mother conjure a sharp, blistering pain in the center of my chest.
How can I love someone so much, yet be so disgusted by her? She kidnapped me, for fuck’s sake. Took me away from a family who probably loved me. Not only that, but she killed people like me and Izzy, simply because we were different.
Who does that?
Monsters.
God, what kind of son am I, believing my mom is a literal monster?
I move through the covenstead in a perpetual daze, heading in the direction of the cafeteria.
I wish Izzy were here. Fuck, I know it’s only been a couple of days for her, but for me, it feels like an eternity.
If I had any doubt before, it vanishes with the realization that I can’t live without her. I don’t want to.
I’m in love with Isabella Martin.
Holy fuck.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would think you’re trying to evade me,” a voice says from behind me, full of amusement.
Dyson.
Of fucking course.
I turn, albeit unwillingly, to see the warlock leaning against a stone pillar, grinning from ear to ear.
I really, really don’t like Dyson and his sister.
Michelle was released from the infirmary a few days prior and has made it her mission to flirt with me at every opportunity. At first, I would try to politely dissuade her, but when that didn’t work, I took to ignoring her completely—the way I would before I met Izzy.
