Chapter 45
Chapter Forty-Five
luna
T he years of slaughter this room has seen isn’t what upsets me because it’s darkness that locks its arms around me in a sweet embrace.
It is the truth that lies beneath the writings that does.
Deep down, buried amongst the pain, is jealousy. Cold, raw, jealousy. Though drawn by me, every word, every picture told by them. They felt everything. His hands—mouth?—
Ridiculous.
Yet here I am, knowing all that has happened and that I’ve sacrificed will never be mine because if Priest is anything, he’s thorough. He’s a King. The greatest.
Dust from the chalk powders my fingertips.
I pull back, sliding my hand behind myself and stepping back.
He’ll never find me here. I just have to wait it out. Wait it all out. They’ll give up one day. They have to. I can’t kill the Minister.
I know I can’t.
Because it is him. I’d rather die than harm him.
The door swings open and Priest stands on the other side. He steps forward, and I step back. Shit. I didn’t think this through enough…why did I never think this through enough…
“You made a couple mistakes, Madness. One, was not trusting me. Again.”
Another step. My back collides with his wall of horrors.
“And two, was thinking that I wouldn’t stop in the one place you found comfort in. Isn’t that right, pretty girl.” His hand reaches out to touch me.
I hold my breath. “I betrayed you. I—I?—”
He catches my teardrop. “You did what you had to do at the time where you had no other choice. You did things to protect my mother, to protect the EKC, to protect me….” His eyes search mine. “Now it’s your turn. Let me in, Madness. I didn’t know, baby.” He lowers his mouth to mine, his tongue swiping over my bottom lip. “I didn’t know what they did to you, or I would have killed them a long time ago.”
I choke on a sob before I’m burying myself into his shirt, mascara smudges over the fabric.
“Hey!” He lifts me by my ass, and I wrap around him like a lifeline. Because he is. “Talk to me.”
“I—” Hiccup. “—can’t.” Hiccup. “Kill you!”
His laughter shakes my body as tears stream down my face. “You’re crying because you can’t kill me? Because I’m the Ministry?”
I nod.
“Jesus, Madness.” A thousand kisses against my head. “Wanna cut me up a little? Might make you feel better?”
My sobs come back, the crushing weight of everything crumbling down around me. “All right. Here’s the thing. You know I’m not good at this shit, so why you gotta make this hard for me to try to figure out? You need some ice cream or something? Mom and Halen would always lose it?—”
I lift my face, needing him in front of me. I whisper my next words, to hell with the piece of shit bleeding out behind us and the death that lingers in the room.
He beats me to it. “Who do I need to kill?”
I sob. “Still you.” My lip quivers before I hold my breath, just enough for the words to finally leave me. “I’m pregnant.”