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My dad leans in and kisses her on the head, giving her shoulders a squeeze. “Come on, baby,” he says to her. “It’s time we tell them the truth. Dylan, too.”
So, it’s not just me then. My brother has also been fed lies.
My god, so many lies. I was fed lies as Dahlia, too, spending my whole life believing that my parents were killed by vampires when it was actually Bellamy, head of the witch’s guild, that had them murdered so I would be a more dutiful soldier for him.
A sharp stab of fire emanates in my gut. They may have been my parents from another lifetime, but I remember them as Dahlia would, and their loss and the truth causes deep burning pain.
I have so much vengeance inside me, I don’t even know where to start.
“Dylan!” my dad yells down the hallway.
In moments my brother appears, hair looking disheveled and his t-shirt askew like we just woke him up from a nap.
“What’s up?” he asks, scratching his head as he stares at my parents with puzzlement. Then he looks at me and gives me a lazy grin. “Ah, hey Rose. You’re up. You all vamped out now?”
“They’ve been lying to us, Dylan,” I say to him.
His brows furrow as he looks at me, then them. “What do you mean?”
“I mean we’re about to explain everything,” my dad says.
“No,” my mother says softly. Her hands grasp at my father’s sleeve. “Honey, they’ll be in danger if they know.”
“Baby, they’ve always been in danger. It’s about time they know why.”
Chapter2
Valtu
THEN
“Valtu?” Lenore says gently.
I’ve been sitting on the floor of the kitchen, cradling Dahlia in my arms like a newborn. But she is not a newborn. She is the opposite of that. She is dead and I am holding onto her because I know eventually I’ll have to stop. These last moments with her, even though her heart has stopped beating and her spirit has moved on, are all I have left.
I want to hold her forever. Never let go, even as she’s put into a grave with me and she rots in my grasp.
I woke up this morning a man in love. I felt something for Dahlia I never thought I’d feel again. I felt hope. I felt a future. I felt happy for the first time since Lucy died.
I was given a second chance at life.
But then it all came crashing down on me.
It all ended because of my own hand.
My own temper.
My own violence.
It never lets me forget the monster I have buried inside.
And now I see Dahlia for who she really is. The woman I love now, but also the women I loved then. Love stacked on love stacked on love and I smashed it all to smithereens with my own hand.
I’ve lost her again.
“Valtu,” Lenore says again, crouching down beside me. She tries hard not to look at Dahlia, even though she wants to. I know she feels guilty for what she did and I’m too drained to be angry at her. I know my anger will return and she might be on the receiving end of it, but until then, I just feel an emptiness so vast I fear I’ll disintegrate into nothing.
No. That’s not quite true. I don’t fear that.
