Page 108 of Entranced By the Basilisks

“That would probably be best,” I say. I’d rather get verbally lashed in private anyway.

I forget about William the moment I focus on Emilia.

“Yes. I didn’t tell you everything I knew about Chosen. I wanted to wait until you were more comfortable with it before telling you that it’s permanent. We needed time together for you to get to know us.”

Emilia’s brows rise and I think I’ve made it worse.

“You kept the truth from me because you thought it would ruin this relationship?”

I press my lips together, unrepentant. “Would you have stayed and trained if you knew it was permanent? Would you have grieved the loss of your old self with two strangers? You only felt safe enough to stay here on the chance that it could be reversed.”

“And you manipulated that. You gave me hope where none existed.”

“I gave you time to accept this new reality. Did it also mean that you were in a place that opened you up so that I could have both my mates? Yes.”

Emilia blinks at me, her jaw clenching and unclenching.

“I trusted you.” Her voice is hoarse.

My heart falls out of my chest. “I know. I was going to tell you everything—”

“When it suited you.”

“When it was best forus.When you didn’t hate your new abilities and when we could be here to support you.”

“You thought what? That if you waited for me to like having power, I’d take the truth better? That I wouldn’t be angry.”

“I always knew you were going to be angry. I just thought…”

“That I’d forgive you if you fucked my brains out enough?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“That you’d come around.” That was where I’d underestimated Emilia. I see that now. I’d taken for granted that she’d someday forgive me. We would have as long as our lifespans were, after all.

Tell her!The mental shout makes me grit my teeth. If I tell her that there’s a way to cure her blessing, I will lose her forever, but if I don’t tell her, how could I ever ask her to place her confidence in me again?

Emilia scoffs while I struggle to calculate the risks.

“You used my ignorance against me,” she says.

“You used both of our ignorance against us.” Jasper’s broken whisper dug into my chest.

“That wasn’t the aim,” I respond.

“I brought her to you because I trusted you and your word,” Jasper says.

I open my mouth to attest that I hadn’t broken my promise to him but close it. He won’t want to hear that.

“You are my mates,” I say. “I needed to buy us enough time for both of you to see that.”

“You don’t lie to mates.” Emilia’s words are like knives. “You don’t manipulate people that you care about. I am more than a solution for your problems.”

“Emilia—”

“I feel used!”

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