Page 81 of Realm of the Wicked

As they fluttered to the ground around me, I felt myself breaking. The very thing I thought I’d never do.

I had to get her back. I would get her back. I just didn’t know what the price would be. Would she even be the same once I got her out of Clarissa’s clutches? I’d love her no matter what, in any lifetime, but there was a possibility she would feel differently.

Maybe everything I’d done to protect her was for nothing. It couldn’t be. I couldn’t have saved her just to hurt her even worse. I’d never forgive myself for that.

I clawed at the curtains, desperate to feel something other than this awful ache in my chest.

Damn you, Stella. Damn you and the way your broken pieces shone the first time I saw you, making everyone else seem dull and worthless in comparison. I hated the way she made me weak, the way she was the only thing on my mind, the only thing that would ever be worthwhile. I hated that the only valuable thing made me vulnerable.

I hated the way I loved her.

Because, after all, I did. And I had loved her since the first night I watched her fall apart in that cold, antiseptic hospital. From that moment, she’d been mine. Now I just needed to prove it to the rest of the universe.

If I had to claw my way out of Hell single-handedly to bring her home, I would.

There was a quiet knock on my door, and Agatha stepped inside. ‘D? I heard crashing and I⁠—’

She stopped, frozen, taking in the sights around me. Through her eyes, I could see the curtains puddled at my feet, the smashed knick-knacks, and scattered books. My desk laid chipped and on its side between us.

‘Oh, D,’ she whispered. ‘What happened?’

I clenched my jaw, digging my nails into my palm. A penance. ‘They took her.’

‘Clarissa?’

I nodded. I thought I’d feel sad. Hopeless. Instead, only anger pumped through me, hot and sticky.

Agatha cast a glance over the room, and when her eyes landed on me once more, I recognized the same resolution set in her gaze as all that time ago when she told me to save her. ‘So fix it.’

This time, I didn’t hesitate. ‘I will.’

There was no other option. In any lifetime, any realm, any eventuality, it was always going to be Stella and me. I’d carve it onto my skin if that’s what it took. I needed a plan, and I needed to make it carefully, but first, I needed to see Stella.

With a nod to Agatha, I left the chaos behind and followed my soulmate to Hell.

30

STELLA

I was beginning to doubt I’d ever felt warmth. It could’ve been ten minutes or ten years since Clarissa had neatly deposited me in this room with a strict, ‘Don’t bother trying to get out.’

Make no mistake, it was a beautiful prison cell. One look around would leave you questioning if it even was a prison. But there were signs. Something insidious lurked beneath the beauty. No different than Clarissa herself. What was it Damien had said? Smoke and mirrors. That’s all this room was.

You could feel it lingering, just there. The first was the way time seemed to have no meaning. I was somewhat used to it from living in the Fringe, but here, in the belly of the beast, it was amplified.

The second was the chill, the way I couldn’t get warm despite the blankets I’d so graciously been provided.

The constant ache in my chest was the last thing, although I couldn’t be certain if that was Hell or just my natural reaction to the entire situation. For the first time in years, I felt like I’d been seen, only for it to all be ripped away from me in the blink of an eye. And what about poor Archie – what would he do without me? What if he thought I’d just abandoned him?

‘Knock, knock!’ Clarissa strode into my room without actually knocking, her perpetual sneer firmly in place.

I pushed myself off the floor. ‘Are you here to tell me you’ve come to your senses and are letting me go?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘If you truly believed that, you’re even more naïve than I thought.’

I glared. ‘Worth a shot.’

Clarissa looked down her nose at me, arching one pale eyebrow. ‘I can’t say I understand what Damien sees in a human, but you’re feistier than most we get down here, I’ll give you that.’