Page 86 of Brutal Prince

And it may never be. And I’d have to be okay with that.

I never knew she was this broken. But now all I want to do is force that darkness from her mind.

But how can I, when all I have to offer is more darkness? More depravity? More violence?

Dark doesn’t consume dark. It festers and grows and expounds.

The last thing Indigo Virgo needs in her life right now is a sick fuck like me.

* * *

Indi

I finally understandwhat he meant by letting him ‘keep it’. He’s eaten out my pain like a bad cancer, leaving me disease free.

For now, anyway.

But what about him? How can he take on such brutality without succumbing to it in some way?

Then again, I know nothing about Briar. He said he can handle anything…and maybe he can. Maybe he’s been eating his own pain for so long, it doesn’t taste spoiled anymore. Maybe he even enjoys it. Like it’s an acquired taste that makes normal people retch, but makes his mouth water.

I’m fully aware of how hard he is for me. And for some disgusting reason I can’t fathom, I’m wet for him too. But instead of putting his hands on me, he moves back and pushes me away. Separating us.

We’d be hot as fuck together.

The same can be said of wood and a butane fucking torch.

I’ve stopped trying to out-think Briar — it’s too exhausting. But I expected him to say something. Anything.

Not, ‘sorry.’

Not, ‘it’s gonna be okay’.

Neither of us are that fucking naive.

But he’s silent. Distant. Cold, even. He stands, watches me for a moment until I do too, and then slips a hand in his pocket. He takes out my switchblade, hands it to me, and then leads us out of the woods.

As soon as I see where the sun’s sitting, my stomach drops an inch.

It’s past lunchtime already. How the hell could we have been gone for so long?

We walk back to the stables, silent and more than a yard apart. Briar’s head is constantly turning — looking for our horses, I guess. But when we get to the stables and Mr. Denard and Ms. Parsons step out of the shadowy depths of that big barn…well, I kinda get a premonition about why we didn’t find our valiant steeds.

* * *

“So where were you?”Addy whispers.

I’m toying with the corner of my notebook, flipping the pages over my thumb as our teacher drones on in the background.

“Horse riding.”

“And what, you lost track of time?”

I sigh and look up at Addy. “That’s what I said.” She’s sitting beside me, pretending to look at the board as she interrogates me from the side of her mouth.

There’s a detention slip burning a fucking hole in my left breast pocket. Briar has one just like it.

Apparently, extending your free period to an over two-hour-long leisure ride in Lavish Prep’s foothills is frowned upon. As are boys and girls disappearing off the grounds together.

---