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She wanted to be there for him. Despite being hurt so many times by those she tried to be there for in the past, she was trying again. For Darius. Knowing that warmed his heart.
“Idohave to.” If he wanted the two of them to move forward, he needed to be honest about who he was. It wouldn’t be fair for her to choose to live a life with him, before knowing his truth. She was giving her heart to him, and he’d be damned if he used that fragile heart in the wrong way. It needed to be treated with care. It needed to know the truth about him.
She nodded. “Then I’m all ears.”
“I’m not a good man, Eva. You need to know that before I start.”
Her nose crinkled. “Difficult to believe that, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Go on.”
Would she continue to act so carefree once she learned who he actually was? What he did?
He supposed there was only one way to tell.
“There’s a lot bothering me right now. You’ll understand better if I tell you a bit about myself. Then it’s your judgment call.”
“What will be my judgment call?”
“Whether or not you want to stay with me long enough to hear the rest.”
“Oh.” Her brows furrowed together as if considering what he just said. Then, she reached for his hand, pulling it to her until it rested above her chest. Above her heart. “I’ll be here until the end,” she assured him.
He wanted to smile, but his apprehension was too great. Sucking in a breath, he decided it was time to get this over with.
“I was born in the fifteenth century.” In other words, he wasmucholder than she was. When she didn’t react, he decided to continue on.You’ll react soon…“My parents died when I was only twenty, my sister not much younger than I was. After their deaths she was given so many chances to move on in life and start a family. She was beautiful. Sheisbeautiful. Every man within a forty-mile radius knew it. But I denied every man who asked for her hand in marriage. I didn’t want to lose her.”
“Uh, first thing I have to say isyuck,”Eva cut in. “She wasn’t even twenty yetandthose men needed your permission? Remind me to never grow up in the fifteenth century.”
If Darius wasn’t already shitting bricks he might’ve laughed. “Eva, you have to understand we grew up in different times. She was far too old to remain unmarried.”
“In other words, you basically helped her get away with murder by helping her keep her freedom. Good for you.”
She wasn’t getting his point. “She wanted to be married.”
“Then it’s areallygood thing she had you. She would’ve seriously been fucked. I mean,literally.” Darius ran a palm over his head. He wasn’t sure if he was annoyed with Eva’s ignorance of their times, or awestruck at her ability to lighten even the darkest of moods. “I may have been born in a different time, but Iwasborn in a smarter time. She was too young to be married. There’s a reason you suckers all died early. You were all idiots.”
He knew sending young girls off to marriage was disapproved of nowadays, but he had always assumed it was the right thing to do at the time. Maybe he was wrong. That didn’t change the fact that his decision to keep her unwed ultimately led to her becoming a vampire.
“If I sent her away with someone she wouldn’t have been living in our village when we were attacked by Artem and his vampires. She became a monster because of me.”
“Correction. She’s stillalivebecause of you.”
“A life as a vampire isn’t a life worth living.” Did Eva not understand that? Vampires were disgraces of nature, needing to feed on the lives of others to survive.
“Youmight think that, but that doesn’t mean she does. I mean, she’s a freaking pilot! Obviously she took advantage of her immortal life and learned, like,a lot.What did you learn other than fighting and killing?” Eva spoke as if she already knew he was a stone-cold killer.
“Nothing, Eva. I survived because I killed, and I wasgoodat it.”
“Another correction.” She loved putting in her two cents, didn’t she? Yet, for some reason it didn’t bother him. He preferred hearing her joke around over watching her run out of the room. “You arestillgood at it. Don’t act like I didn’t watch you kill others in front of me.” She smirked. “It was incredibly sexy.”
“Sexy?” That was something he didn’t expect her to say. He did kill others in front of her. But those immortals deserved it for coming after her. “Killing someone is many things. Sexy isnotone of them.”
“The fact that you think about it that way is also an incredibly sexy trait.” She surprised him by inching closer to him. “Go on.”
He swallowed, growing stiff at their closeness. “The immortals you saw me kill deserved it. You have to understand, I killed many others who didn’t.” Those he killed in his past, because Artem ordered him to do so, didn’t deserve to meet early graves. Most of the time Darius didn’t even know why he was given certain orders. But he never questioned Artem, mindlessly killing hundreds in his pursuit to keep Karina safe.
Eva gave him an expressive look. Something he said struck a chord with her. What it was he didn’t know yet, but he had an idea.Here it comes,he thought, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen.She’s going to run.
“You think those you killed in front of me deserved it?” She broke out in uncontrollable laughter.
