Page 70 of Seduced

Alexei burst out the door, coatless and hatless, ignoring Wilder’s cries that it was snowing—“Don’t follow me, Wilder!” he yelled—and ran until his legs gave out.

He fell.

He just lay there, sprawled on the snow, his hair wet with it, the cold seeping into his shirt. He relished the bitter sensation that numbed his limbs to the bone. He let his head fall back, hair splayed on the whiteness of the ice, and the snow kept falling on his lips, his shirt, his fingers. He began to freeze, the cold and the numbness travelling to his heart—although it could do little damage there, since he had none.

You bring nothing but shame.

You should never have been born.

Would it be tonight? Would death finally find him tonight, on this white, icy canvas? He tilted his chin up to the black heavens. No stars tonight; just as well. He would not miss the beautiful, blinking bastards when he froze to death.

Poor Wilder, he will be the one to find me. He’ll be so ashamed of my cowardice. He will wish he had never met me. He—

Steps were crunching on the snow by his head and Alexei shut his eyes tighter.

Damn.

“Not yet, Wilder,” he tried to say, but his voice was frozen, and the only thing that came out of his chapped lips was a cloud of white smoke. “Come back in an hour or two, I shall be dead by then.”

Poppy

“I am not Wilder,” Poppy said.

Hade’s face was whiter than the snow. He struggled to open his eyes, but there were frozen snowflakes on his eyelashes, gluing them shut. Impulsively, she reached down, the soft silk skirt of her dress billowing on the snow, and wiped them away. Her heart skipped a beat as her cold fingers met his even colder skin, and he flinched as if he had been burned.

‘I don’t like to be touched.’

“I’m sorry,” she said and Hades’ eyes flew open, electric blue against the whiteness of his skin.

Stop swooning every time he looks at you, she berated herself.

“I am a monster,” Hades said, his voice low, shattered. His lips were purple and torn to shreds.

He was intentionally freezing himself to death. Was he in pain? Did he intend to numb the pain along with his limbs?

“You did act like one,” Poppy said, settling herself on the snow beside him. The cold gripped her, more painful than comforting. “Like…”

“Like your brother,” Hades said, blinking rapidly.

No one is a monster quite as vile as he, Poppy thought, and was immediately seized by remorse. But she did not apologize for the thought, not even internally. Maybe that was progress. Or maybe she was sinking lower into sin. Who could tell anymore?

But it did feel good to admit her brother’s evil nature, even to herself.

Even in the shame of it.

“I’ve come to get you,” she said out loud. “Come inside, my lord; the night is vicious.”

“Are you here because you pity me?”

“No, of course not,” she replied quickly, startled by the vulnerability of his question. “Well, a little,” she amended.

“You pity me,” he repeated.

“A little, as I said.”

“Iworship you.”

He tried to sit up, bracing a shaking arm on the snow, but his limbs did not seem to obey him, and he fell back. His eyes had taken on a distant, unfocused look, as if he were inebriated, but Poppy knew he wasn’t; he was just too frozen to be fully alert. Real fear seized her. He was about to become unconscious, and she would not be able to move him all by herself. He had run far away enough that it would be too late to go back for Wilder. By the time they came back, he would be beyond saving.

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