Page 58 of Ashes

“I-I don’t-don’t know anything!” Riley said, clutching his hand, fear making his body quake. “Asylum never said anything to me about it. He doesn’t tell me shit about what he does, and I don’t want to fucking know.”

I licked my lips. “He doesn’t tell you anything?Ever?”

He shook. “No.”

“Did he tell you he has a thing for Sirena?” I raised my brows at him.

He was quiet for a moment. “He-he just said they knew each other before. That they were friends.”

“That’s it?”

He breathed out. Blood still oozed from the wound on his hand.

“He-he loves her. That’s all I know. He’s never gone further than telling us that she’s his. We never asked.”

“Loves her?”

The anger surged in my guts.

He nodded. “She’s his forever girl,” he murmured. “That’s all I know.”

“So you just lied to me when you said he never tells you anything,” I said, desperate to find an excuse to let this anger and rage out of my system. I needed something to fucking break.

And Riley Danvers looked like it might be him.

“No!” he shouted as I reached for him. “No!”

He kicked at me, but it only fueled my fire. Ashes reached out and grabbed hold of his arms, holding him down as I sat on Riley’s legs and pushed his shirt up.

Riley squirmed and wept beneath me as I took in his pale flesh.

A perfect canvas to paint on.

My specter would love it.

I pushed my knife into his abdomen, breaking the skin as he squealed.

“Don’t move. It’ll be over soon,” Ashes said.

“Please. Please.” Riley wept, his body trembling.

I carved each letter deep enough, so he’d remember his place in this fucked-up world.

His sobs finally quieted as he passed out. Blood trickled from his stomach. I finished carving the last letter into his flesh and got to my feet as he came to and Ashes released him.

A sheen of sweat covered his skin as we got to our feet and stared down at him.

The ragged letters spelled out what he was.

LIAR.

“Little much, Dante,” Ashes murmured.

“Not even close,” I answered softly. I locked my eyes on Riley’s glistening ones. “If you find out anything, you’ll come tell me. Right?”

“Y-Y-yes,” he rasped weakly.

He was bleeding everywhere. It was smeared on everything, me included. My fingers were sticky with it.

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