CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE #2
“Sit Princess, I’m not done yet.” My voice is hoarse with emotion and she nods, taking a seat, but even through our unfinished bond I can almost sense that uncontrolled rage boiling right under the surface.
“Our fathers came to an agreement that didn’t require Evera and I to be officially mated to have a fledgling.
My father needed an heir and had chosen Evera for this.
I think he knew I was going to flip sides and was planning to kill me once the infant was born.
So, she tried to burn our mate mark off before she—” I choke on the words, unable to say them.
My fists clench the chair and a snap echoes around the room as the armrests crack apart in my hand.
“I understand if you banish me from your side for letting me get myself into that situation. Nothing happened, and I’ve never been so glad for my cock to not work, but I’m disgusted with myself. I’m sorry for treating you how I did. I thought it would be easier to push you away—”
She covers my mouth with her hand. Her face reminds me of an angry storm before it decimates everything in its path.
“You are not disgusting and you have done nothing wrong. Am I pissed that you treated me like less than shit on the bottom of your boot? You bet your sorry ass I am. Do I understand why now? Yes and I hold nothing against you, but I want that bitch’s head on a pike.
” She moves her hand off my mouth and uses the pad of her thumb to brush a tear away that I didn’t realize had fallen.
Her voice lowers and quivers slightly, something that she used to do when she was younger when she was trying to be strong and brave. “She burned our mate mark?”
I nod, moving her to the side wordlessly while I begin undoing my armor.
Each clunk of metal lands on the ground like a finality.
I just don’t know whether it will have a good ending or not.
But I know I’ll deserve it if it ends badly.
I haven’t looked at my scar since that initial day after escaping.
But she deserves to see that I am truly broken.
Some part of me hopes that seeing the destruction, the absence of any sign of our bond, will push her away and I won’t accidentally hurt her with my toxicity.
But the selfish part hopes she sees past it and I don’t need to live the rest of my life pining for this amazing female.
A female to whom, if she truly forgives me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for my behavior.
As the last piece of amour hits the ground, I lift my shirt and hear her gasp. Unable to help it, I wince, and I just know she can’t stand the idea of her mate mark on me being so disfigured. I’m a disgrace.
A cold hand runs down the center of the scar before stopping above my navel, and she spreads her fingers. “Talyn look at me,” she commands. Then, when I don’t, she repeats: “Look at me.”
I hold my breath as I glance down at the small, angry female before me.
“Scars don’t make you less beautiful. They don’t change you at your core.
” A shadow of emotion crosses her face that I don’t completely understand.
“You didn’t intend to have this happen to you.
But I will need my revenge. Evera is a dead fae walking, and so is your father.
They are disgusting beings. You are mine.
Do you understand, Talyn Craven? You don’t get to run away from me and lash out because you don’t see your own worth.
” She takes another breath to calm herself. “Can I hug you?”
My heart feels like it comes back to life as I see her vulnerability at asking that simple question, like she’s waiting for me to lash out and storm off again.
I nod and pull her close to me, inhaling her stormy scent.
Maybe Killian was right. Maybe Ravina will be our salvation in this messed up realm.
It’s now I promise myself to never take my anger out on her again.
I will be a better male even if it kills me in the end.
That even though this weight has lifted off my chest, there’s this slinking presence in my mind that won’t leave.
I hug her tighter—I need to protect her from whatever is to come because I know this war is going to get worse.
I pull back slightly and see tears in her eyes. “Please don’t cry, Princess.”
A dry laugh leaves her lips as I wipe away the stray tears. “I’m not crying because I’m sad. I mean I am, but this is all anger. I’m okay though. Thank you for sharing that with me. I know it was hard.”
“You truly don’t mind that I’m broken? That my mark is gone forever?”
“What are you talking about? Your mark is right here.”
I look down before my fear can stop me, hardly daring to hope, and see that she’s right.
Through the shiny puckered skin of my burn, the mark appears just as it did before - faint yet clear.
Despite everything, it was meant to be there.
The realisation shifts something in me—the final doubt slides away.
My thumb strays from her cheek down to her lips and I swallow.
“I need to kiss you,” I whisper, the words foreign on my tongue. “Would that be—”
She grabs my face and pulls me down to her height, her lips landing against mine, and I swear my brain freezes and defrosts in less than five seconds before I take over, commandeering this kiss.
Her taste is addicting. I don’t think I’ll be able to live without the storm she brings—this feeling of being struck by lightning from something so small brings me to my knees.
They smash against the floor and I pull away, breaking our kiss.
“I don’t ever deserve your forgiveness, but I swear to you Ravina, I will spend every day of the rest of my life doing my best.” Or may the fates strike me where I stand.