Page 240 of The Devil's Fire

“Just a little.”

“I know, but it wasn’t always like that. The more time I spent with her, the more I started to care for her, and at some point, I began to love her. I stopped postponing the wedding and made the decision to finally marry her. We were three years into our engagement when she died in my arms.” Althaia took a sharp intake of breath, looking at me in shock.

“There was nothing I could do as I held her in my arms, witnessing her take her last breath before life left her. It… it fucked me up. So much so that I stopped caring and killed my way through the underworld until I found him.” I said, staring off into the distance.

That day haunted me day and night. I could never forget the feeling of her blood splattering on my face when she was shot in the neck. Sienna, choking on her blood, as I desperately tried to stop the bleeding. Her fearful gaze lingered before her eyes turned blank and lifeless. I shouted for her to wake up, but she didn’t, and I held her in my arms for hours before being pulled away.

I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t, haunted by the image of her face and the sound of her choking on her blood.

“But all of that is over now, and I’ve made peace with it. A part of me still cares about her, but not in the way you think, because I love you. I didn’t love her the way I love you.” I confessed softly. She had no idea that she was the one who made me whole.

Althaia suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck. She hugged me tightly, taking me by surprise as she pulled me out of my thoughts. I wrapped my arms around her too when I felt something wet soaking through my shirt.

“Are you crying?” I tried to get her to lean back to get a look at her, but she only tightened her hold on me and hid her face.

“No.” Her voice cracked.

“You silly woman, why are you crying?” I couldn’t help but chuckle at her reaction. Her heart never failed to impress me.

Her capacity for caring extended even to people she had never met. Her heart was so pure, brimming with compassion, and that was what made me fall in love with her. She became my light and my fire, gradually dissolving the icy remnants of a past I had sought to forget.

“I’m not silly.” She sniffed.

“I beg to differ.”

“Shut up.” She murmured, leaning back and wiping away tears with a furrowed brow. “How can I not cry? It’s just so... heartbreaking. It’s cruel! Why would they do such a thing?”

I placed my hand on her cheek, understanding why she was reacting so strongly. She could relate.

It suddenly became clear to me that her longing to be alone was a way for her to find healing, rather than an attempt to distance herself from me permanently. I felt a pang of guilt for not realizing that sooner.

“They wanted to break me and force me to step down. They used her to get to me and made sure I wouldn’t be able to have an heir soon. Now, they’re doing it again… with you.”

“Me?”

“Someone has been keeping an eye on you and found out you were pregnant. That night, when you fell ill, it wasn’t because of food poisoning. They intentionally poisoned you to induce a miscarriage.” I held her tightly, anger rushing through me.

Althaia let out a gasp and looked at me with wide eyes, her hands going down to her stomach.

“Poisoned?” She whispered and swallowed hard at the information.

“With arsenic. It mimics the symptoms of food poisoning. It should have been detected in the blood test, but we believe it got swapped out.” I explained.

“Oh…” She let out a shaky breath. I sighed and placed my hand over hers on her stomach. “Does that mean if…” She struggled to finish her sentence as she held onto my hand tightly.

“If not for that, there might have been a chance it wouldn’t have happened.” I said to her gently.

Even though she had started to recover, her entire body remained weakened, leaving her in a vulnerable state. When they were being chased, it pushed her body to the edge, and it shut down, unable to hold on to the pregnancy.

“So don’t you ever dare blame yourself for what happened.” I told her firmly. It pained me that she had carried the weight of self-blame for the miscarriage when it was entirely out of her control. That attack was aimed at me, and once again, the story was repeating itself.

Now with Althaia.

She looked down at her lap, a frown creasing her face, lost in her thoughts.

“Tell me, what’s on your mind?”

“How I want them to suffer.” She declared, lifting her head, her eyes ablaze with a fire I hadn’t seen before. “I want them to suffer so badly for everything they’ve done to us, for making me lose so much.” She said it without hesitation, her voice firm and clear as anger continued to burn within her.

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