Page 135 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

After several minutes of this, I cleaned up the sink, washed out my mouth, and stumbled into the kitchen for water. I was chugging a glass with my hand gripping the counter for stability when I heard the unmistakable thump of feet hitting the floorboards.

Disoriented and tear-streaked, my first instinct was to rush to hide the diary that I’d dropped. But Rune was already in the doorway between my bedroom and the open living area.

“Why are you crying, demoness? Shouldn’t you be celebrating a successful seduction?”

The glass slipped from my hands, shattering on the floor as my body shook.

“You read it? Just now?” I asked, my voice an octave too high, strangled. My heart squeezed, another sob building in my throat. I thought he’d only just arrived. It didn’t make sense that he’d have time to read Isabella’s diary, but I couldn’t think straight.

He knew. That was all that mattered. He knew I was a succubus.

He showed a single flash of confusion at my words before it melted away, as if I hadn’t spoken at all.

I thought I’d seen Rune angry before. I thought I’d witnessed his strength. But as he stood before me now, radiating shadow magick, his eyes dark orbs of fury, his muscles tensed as his tattoos pulsed, I realized I hadn’t seen anything close to his wrath.

He stepped forward, and I stepped back, trying to force my muddled, heartbroken brain to think. To string one single coherent thought together as I splintered and cracked like the shattered glass at my feet.

“Or, it would’ve been successful, if I hadn’t made sure you were exactly who you said you were,” he said, his lip curling and features marred with disgust and hatred.

It was a look I never dreamed I’d see Rune direct toward me. It amplified my pain into something suffocating, weighing down my shoulders and digging into my chest like sharp claws.

“I applaud you for deceiving me for so long,” he said, his tone dripping with unfathomable venom. “Impressive, really.”

Before he could spit out his next words, my front door flew open.

62

SCARLETT

Afiercely livid Snow strode into my living room. At the sight of me choking on a sob and Rune’s power thrumming through the air, she conjured bright magick in her palms.

Rune could snap her like a twig in a heartbeat, and yet my friend planted her feet and clenched her fists. She wouldn’t be doing this if she knew the truth. I looked down at the ground. I dug my nails into my palms and hoped the stinging pain would shock me out of this nightmare and right back into Rune’s bed where I belonged.

“Get away from her!” Snow screamed.

Rune laughed darkly.

She pointed at Rune in accusation. “He dosed you with his blood,” she said, her green eyes lit with righteous fire as her ice blonde hair lifted around her shoulders. “He’s been tracking you since the very beginning, like an abusive monster.”

Rune leveled his glare on Snow, and I jumped between them on instinct.

“She’s a succubus, you poor fool,” Rune said.

A piece of me died when I glanced back at Snow and saw the change in her features, the way she considered me with new eyes.

“She’s a soulless, duplicitous demon who sustains herself on the energy of others,” Rune spat.

I felt myself recede, my body caving in on itself. I tried to see the stars in my mind’s eye, to let myself detach and float away.

Then, after a beat of silence, Snow stepped forward to stand by my side.

“I think the same could be said of you.”

I was sucked right back into my body. My gaze snapped to Snow, watching her maintain her icy stare—not on me, but on Rune. Hadn’t she heard what he’d said? The glamour had been broken. As a witch, she could likely see right through to my nonexistent soul. Why was she still standing by me?

Rune’s eyes shifted back to mine. “That was why you were in Crescent Haven,” he said suddenly, vocalizing the solution to a puzzle he’d been working out in his mind. “I never stumbled upon you. Fate had nothing to do with this. You were planted in my homeland, where some enemy knew I would find you, all to feed this asinine narrative that we belong together.”

Asinine narrative. Soulless. Childish delusions. Parasite.

---