Page 87 of Realm of the Wicked

Instead of a wall, I found myself falling forward, someone tugging my arm, pulling me deeper past another curtain. Before I could scream, a hand slapped over my mouth.

‘Make one sound and we’re both dead.’

32

DAMIEN

Stella relaxed in my arms as soon as she heard my voice, a strange sense of peace washing over me. I was a safe space for her. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to earn that, but I wasn’t about to give it away, either.

I pressed my finger to her mouth, not daring to speak until Silas’s footsteps thundered down the hall. ‘Where the fuck are you? You couldn’t have gone far, and I will find you, and you will regret this.’

His footsteps disappeared, echoing further and further, and I took my finger off her lips.

‘Hold on.’ I snapped my fingers, the dimmest ball of light brightening the small alcove.

‘Why didn’t he look in here?’ Stella whispered, looking around the small cubby.

‘Silas has only been around a few decades. I was here when they built this place. Clarissa would know where to look, but she’ll let him flounder before she bothers to come looking herself.’

She looked up at me sadly. ‘I guess you didn’t manage to remove the tracking magic?’

My face and heart fell. ‘No. I’m sorry. I’m still trying, though. I promise.’ I’d tried everything I knew, Agatha and I both, but nothing had worked so far, and I was quickly running out of time. I was a man possessed, desperate, and putting us both in danger in my need to see her again. Without thinking, I’d come into Hell, into Wrath. I needed her to know the truth, all of truths of what I’d done, so she would know exactly how far I was willing to go for her. And it needed to be said before it was too late.

‘It’s okay,’ she whispered, pressing her face into my chest. ‘It’s okay either way.’

My shirt felt wet, and I realized she had hidden her face to cry.

She was here because of me. This was all my fault, and now here she was, reassuring me, and hiding her feelings from me.

‘No,’ I said firmly, lifting her tear-stained face. ‘Absolutely not. None of that. You will not hide any of this from me.’

‘But you’ve tried so hard. I know you have. All you’ve done is protect me. I don’t need to make you feel worse. Maybe this was always how it was supposed to be.’

‘I don’t care. You are the important thing here. Not me.’

She sniffled. ‘I don’t know.’

‘I do.’ I lifted her chin up, dragging her mouth to mine. ‘There is not a single doubt in my mind that you are worth every moment I’ve spent saving you. Not when I had to kick some guy’s ass in a bar. Not when I had to fix your shady landlord. None of it.’ And there they were, all my secrets, spilling out between us. Let them fall where they may. Stella was either going to love despite them or she wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t hide my truth from her for another moment.

Her full lips dropped open and she was silent for a moment. ‘It was you. All along. How did I not see it?’ Stella blinked, shaking her head. ‘I smelled smoke in my room one day. I thought Grace had been sneaking cigarettes again. I was so angry at her… It was you.’

‘You knew?’ I knew Stella was bright, but maybe something else was going on. My chest warmed, content with the knowledge that maybe she’d known me all along.

She shrugged, a pretty blush spreading across her face. ‘I mean, I didn’t know for sure. I couldn’t exactly tell anyone what I thought without them thinking I’d lost it. But there were some really weird coincidences. I called you my guardian angel.’

Her guardian angel. How wrong she was, and how much I wanted her to be right.

I laughed quietly. ‘For you, Stella, I’d be anything you ask of me. Even if I have to pretend.’ I gripped her face between my hands, resting my lips on hers.

Stella smiled. ‘Is it really pretending if I believe it?’

Her words always seemed to rock me to my core, even the simplest of them. ‘You have no idea what you mean to me,’ I breathed, kissing her deeply. I dragged my hands down the side of the black lace dress she wore, knowing her skin was just a whisper away from my touch. ‘I will do whatever it takes to save you. I promised you a chance. And I’m going to make sure you get one.’

‘You’ve already given me one. Lots of them by the sounds of it.’ Stella shook her head, still smiling despite it all. And then her smile fell.

‘What is it?’ I demanded.

‘Silas said something. He said… he said Clarissa hated you so much because you used to be together. Is that true?’