51. Biting Ever After
Chapter 51
Biting Ever After
CHARMING
W hatever nightmares my father has visited on me through my life, they all pale in comparison to watching him rip Cinder’s throat out in front of me while I’m helpless, unable to do to a fae fucking thing about it. My mouth and voice are frozen in place, but inside I’m screaming as she bleeds. As he feeds.
Murderous rage pumps through me in a way I’ve never known before.
Agonizing pain and despair rip through me like a pack of howling wolves.
Not her. Not her.
I promised I’d keep her safe.
Fuck everyone else. I’d hand over every last human and fae to my father to save her.
My body strains uselessly against the thrall as her violet eyes lose focus and she drops to the ground.
No.
Fucking no.
I can’t lose her.
I won’t lose her.
Then my father begins to smoke and burn. Wonder pierces the rage and fear as I realize it’s her blood.
While I felt the sun from the inside out, her heat is burning my father alive. And he won’t survive.
The unquenchable hunger of a monster overtakes me as I revel in watching my father scream in agonizing pain until he is no more.
The second my father is dead, his thrall breaks and I’m instantly by Cinder’s side, lifting her into my arms. “No, no, no, come on. Come on, stay with me.” Tears clog my throat and fall onto her face which has gone ashen and gray.
“Oh fae lords, there’s so much blood,” a small voice says from behind me somewhere. Maybe Goldie.
“Can’t you do something?” Brexley asks.
“I’m sorry honey,” the Fairy Godmother replies. “This amount of healing is beyond me.”
“Cinder, stay with me,” I beg.
After some effort her violet eyes find mine. They are dazed, as if she’s already lost touch with where she is, who I am. Who we are to each other. Her essence is already detaching from her body, preparing to leave for good.
“Please don’t leave me,” I beg. “I can’t live without you.”
But I will. I’ll be here. For centuries. Without Cinder.
I can’t fucking stand the thought.
I need her to speak. To say something cutting or snarky, but her throat is ravaged as are her vocal cords.
My body shudders with wracking sobs. Anger and fear crack my heart in my chest and I’m sure I’m about to die alongside her.
You are weak. Men don’t cry. You are a disgrace.
The words of my father hammer into me, but they can’t hurt me anymore. She’s worth being weak for. She always was.
None of this was worth it.
“I shouldn’t have involved you,” I blubber. “I should have kept you in the Common World where it was safe. Forced you to stay there. Far away from Midnight.”
I am what everyone says I am. Selfish. I should have let her go, but I wanted her with me. And now she’s paying the price.
I’m paying too, punished for my greedy idiocy.
Cinder’s eyelids flutter as her muscles relax. She has moments left.
A calm settles over me.
Things won’t end like this.
She’s my happily ever after.
I’ll prove everyone right.
I am a selfish, impulsive son of a bitch, so it’s time I act like it. Even if that means doing the forbidden.
I bite into my wrist and push it to her lips. “Drink.”
She’s too weak, she’s fading.
In a last, desperate attempt, I gather every ounce of my power and focus it on Cinder. Pupils dilating, all the horrible details come into painfully clear focus.
My thrall, fueled by the depth of my love for her, surges forward, enveloping her. She resisted my father’s ability, but I have something more powerful than he could ever understand. Her trust and consent.
That night I marked her, she let me in and I let her inside of me. I just pray to the fae lords it’s not too late.
“Cinder, drink.”
What little life is left in her responds and she attaches her lips to my wrist. Her suction is weak, barely there, but she’s drinking.
She can take my life. All of it. If she drinks me dry in exchange for five minutes more of life, I’d gladly give my future away for her.
Five minutes so she could drink one last pumpkin spice latte, hug her friends, so I could show her that I love her more than anything in this realm or the next. That I’m not scared to be who I am anymore. I’m not my father. Because I love. I love her more than myself. And that’s something he could never understand.
My head turns light and dizzy as she drinks.
Her hands curl around my arm as she becomes stronger, taking me in faster, harder.
Ravaged skin knits together and I let out a thankful gasp.
“That’s it my gothic goddess, take all of me.” My voice is reedy to my own ears.
Cinder’s head drops finally, her eyes shutting tight as if she’s overwhelmed by some emotion. When they open again even the whites are completely swallowed in black.
“What did you do to her?”
The question comes from Snow who now stands next to me.
It takes a moment to get my throat to work.
“I made her like me.” I use the word she’ll understand. “A vampire.”
Snow’s hand squeezes my shoulder. I’m not sure if it’s in solace or anger.
“She might not want this.” Snow’s words are barely audible.
I pick Cinder up in my arms and trudge along the blood-drenched floor, stepping directly on my father's mottled remains.
“She can kick my ass when she wakes up.”