He wipes my face. His own is set in hard lines of anger.
“I’ll make him regret this.”
I hold his palm against my cheek.
“Don’t hurt him, Dad. I love him.” The tears start again.
I love him, even if he never loved me.
I can’t stop loving him, no matter how much it kills me. No matter how painful it is.
I gave my heart to a monster, and it will always stay with him.
Even after he shattered it.
Chapter 51
Salvario
“Let him go, Dad. I never want to see him again.”
“I never want to see him again.”
The boy plays the memory on loop. Happily.
“We’ll be free now.”
He’s joyful.
Today, even with my eyes open, I can see him; he has triumphed completely.
His face brightens even more when I pull the dagger from mynightstand.
On one side, the date my mother used it is carved. On the other, the date Elowen’s kidnapping ended. That was the plan: shatter Alexander’s daughter, send her back to destroy him, and end my miserable existence.
The plan didn’t work.
I slide to the floor beside the table, my back against the wall.
She changed everything. She made me change the date of my death.
“She should never have loved you. She doesn’t want you now. Stop thinking about her.”
I take a deep breath. My chest is in unbearable pain. Even breathing is intolerable.
She doesn’t want me now.
I was dreaming of something that could never happen. A life where I took my revenge, redeemed the boy, and lived happily with my Elowen.
The boy is still here. He never left. I was wrong to think killing Alexander would free me. Wrong to believe one death could erase memories when the deaths of bigger culprits changed nothing. Wrong to hope I could ever live.
“It’s her fault,”the boy says, unhappy now.“She made you believe you could live.”
Yes. She made me believe I could live. She gave me hope through her love. The love I never deserved. She gave me her faith, and I crushed it.
“Now she hates you.”He is happy again.
I drag the blade across my wrist.
