Page 5 of Theirs to Rule

Her head snapped up, surprise flashing in her teary gaze. “You really think that?”

“I know it,” I said, meaning every word.

There was a part of me, a dark, selfish part, that envied Kage. To be loved so fiercely, so unconditionally, it was something I'd never known. If something landed me in the hospital, would Camille sit by my bed like this, holding my hand, fear and love etched into her features?

“You really love him, don’t you?” The words stuck in my throat as I forced them out.

“Yes, I love him, but it’s more than that,” Camille confessed. “He’s been through so much. He didn’t deserve this. And his family… God, they just lost Ava…” She looked up at me in alarm. “Has anyone told his parents?”

I nodded. “They were several hours away, but they’re on their way.” I’d called the school, told them what happened, and told them to call Kage’s parents. I could only imagine their panic. I’d counseled Ava, Kage’s sister, several times before she’d been murdered by Silas Prescott, another student.

Camille exhaled shakily, her shoulders sagging. For a moment, the room was silent except for the beeping machines.

“How did you know we were in danger?” she asked suddenly.

I sat down in the chair beside her. “I didn’t. Not exactly. Just had a bad feeling. When I checked the tracker on your phone and saw you were at the overlook too long…”

"Seems to be a habit of yours. Coming to the rescue just in time. At the river, at my old dorm..." Her voice trailed off, and she gave me a sidelong glance. "Maybe your tracker isn't just on my phone, but on me."

Her tone was slightly teasing, indicating her words were intended to lighten the mood, but there was also an edge of suspicion to her words. No surprise there given I had put the tracker on her phone without her knowledge. Then again, I’d told her about it a while ago and she’d chosen to leave the tracker on. The only possible reason was because she felt our connection, too. And in a weird way, she was right about me being able to track not just her phone, but her. There was something between us, some unseen tether that seemed to pull me toward her whenever she was in danger.

“Maybe,” I said lightly, letting the moment hang in the air.

Her voice softened. “Dante, thank you. For saving us. For being here.”

Her gratitude cut deeper than she probably realized. Camille cared for me—I knew that. But she didn’t love me like she loved Kage. That truth was a blade I kept twisting deeper into my chest, even as I couldn’t let her go.

“You don’t have to thank me,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself too.”

“I will,” she said, though the uncertainty in her voice made me doubt it.

She turned back to Kage. “I wish you knew him the way I do. There’s so much good in him.”

“I know there is,” I said. And it was true. Kage might’ve been ruthless and cold, but I’d seen the way he softened around her. The way he fought to protect her.

“So muchgood,” she emphasized before wincing slightly. “I mean, I know you saw what he did but…”

"You mean kill Silas?" I said, my voice flat. "He went easy on him, killing him. If it had been me, I'd have drawn it out. I'd have made him suffer for what he did."

Her eyes rounded. Camille shook her head, a small frown creasing her forehead. "That's not you, Dan?—"

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I interrupted her, my words slipping out sharper than I intended.

“Silas killed Ava and tried to kill you. Nothing is more precious to me than you, Camille. I’ll happily kill anyone who threatens you. You don’t know what I’m capable of."

That wasn’t completely true. She’d seen me beat a man at the Devil’s Engine bar when he’d grabbed her. But even though I waited for her to respond, she didn’t. It should have comforted me that she didn’t automatically go there; instead, it made me fear that she was blocking out that side of me.

She wanted to think I was good.

I had good in me but that was mixed with a whole lot of bad, too. If Camille refused to see that, we had no future together, especially given the secrets I was keeping.

“Well, I'm fine, Dante. I pray that thanks to you, Kage will be fine, too. I can’t lose him.”

“You won’t. But I understand your fear. Losing someone you care about is the most painful thing in the world.”

She’d lost enough people to know. Her mom. Ava.

Me? My jaw tensed as the memory of Rhianna flashed through my mind. Her limp body and pale face, her eyes open but vacant…

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