Chapter 29
DAMIEN
I threw the glass paperweight from my desk and watched it shatter into a thousand pieces against the wall.
I didn’t feel better. I felt worse. I didn’t think I’d ever feel right again, until Stella was back with me.
But if I did it wrong, Clarissa would kill her – or worse – before I ever got close.
Knowing her, she’d probably used the tracking magic she was so fond of first thing.
If I hadn’t been so distracted by Stella, I could’ve prepared for Clarissa to arrive sooner than she said.
Removing the magic would be a nightmare at best. At worst…
well, I didn’t even want to consider that outcome.
Red flooded my vision, my veins on fire. With a roar, I flipped my solid desk upright, the papers and pens that sat on top of it flying into the air like doves who didn’t know how to survive outside captivity.
As they fluttered to the ground around me, I felt myself breaking. The very thing I thought I’d never do.
I had to get her back. I would get her back. I just didn’t know what the price would be. Would she even be the same once I got her out of Clarissa’s clutches? I’d love her no matter what, in any lifetime, but there was a possibility she would feel differently.
Maybe everything I’d done to protect her was for nothing. It couldn’t be. I couldn’t have saved her just to hurt her even worse. I’d never forgive myself for that.
I clawed at the curtains, desperate to feel something other than this awful ache in my chest.
Damn you, Stella. Damn you and the way your broken pieces shone the first time I saw you, making everyone else seem dull and worthless in comparison.
I hated the way she made me weak, the way she was the only thing on my mind, the only thing that would ever be worthwhile.
I hated that the only valuable thing made me vulnerable.
I hated the way I loved her.
Because, after all, I did. And I had loved her since the first night I watched her fall apart in that cold, antiseptic hospital. From that moment, she’d been mine. Now I just needed to prove it to the rest of the universe.
If I had to claw my way out of Hell single-handedly to bring her home, I would.
There was a quiet knock on my door, and Agatha stepped inside. ‘D? I heard crashing and I—’
She stopped, frozen, taking in the sights around me. Through her eyes, I could see the curtains puddled at my feet, the smashed knick-knacks, and scattered books. My desk laid chipped and on its side between us.
‘Oh, D,’ she whispered. ‘What happened?’
I clenched my jaw, digging my nails into my palm. A penance. ‘They took her.’
‘Clarissa?’
I nodded. I thought I’d feel sad. Hopeless. Instead, only anger pumped through me, hot and sticky.
Agatha cast a glance over the room, and when her eyes landed on me once more, I recognized the same resolution set in her gaze as all that time ago when she told me to save her. ‘So fix it.’
This time, I didn’t hesitate. ‘I will.’
There was no other option. In any lifetime, any realm, any eventuality, it was always going to be Stella and me. I’d carve it onto my skin if that’s what it took. I needed a plan, and I needed to make it carefully, but first, I needed to see Stella.
With a nod to Agatha, I left the chaos behind and followed my soulmate to Hell.