Page 172 of Claiming Pretty

“You gave yourself up to Ebony,” she whispered.

I nodded. “Too little, too late, eh?”

She tried to protest, but I cut her off.

“It’s okay. I understand. I always have.” My voice cracked as I added, “You were his. You always were.”

Her tears fell freely now, and I felt my own building behind my bruised eyes.

“It’s time for you to go,” I said softly, nodding toward the passagetomb entrance over her shoulder.

Ava’s breath caught.

“Wait.” Her voice wavered, brittle as the morning breeze. “Wait, this isn’t goodbye, is it? Not like a real goodbye.”

I forced a smile, but it was a weak, unconvincing thing, and I could see her fear deepen.

Fidgeting with the hem of my jacket—still stiff with dried blood—I replied, “It’s just something people say. We can say it, too.”

“But…” She bit into her lower lip, her eyes darting across my face as though trying to read my thoughts. “Where will you go?”

The breeze stirred the surrounding trees, their rustling a quiet whisper against the weight of her question. It felt cruel almost, how the sunlight warmed the earth, promising renewal while everything between us cracked and crumbled.

I steeled myself, drawing a hard line with my mouth. “I know the name of every single rotten one of them. Mostwould have fled before the authorities caught up to them. Their victims deserve… justice.”

My words were calm, deliberate, but I saw her flinch as if I’d raised my voice.

Her wide, searching eyes darted between mine, her brow furrowed. She was looking for the man she had known—the man who would never survive what lay ahead.

Ava’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re going after the Sochai.”

I didn’t respond. I didn’t have to.

The silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating, as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, shivering. “That’s a long, dark road to take, Ciaran.”

I laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and jagged.

“To take?” I repeated, my voice cracking with something between anger and resignation. “I’ve never left it. I’ve been walking this dark path since the day Adam Donahue dragged a beautiful little girl into the shadows of Blackthorn Hall.”

My fists clenched at the memory. I didn’t say the rest—that I hoped this journey would finally end it. That I wanted, needed, to sever myself from the darkness that bound me. To burn it all to the ground, every last piece of my father’s legacy.

Ava’s voice softened. “And after?”

Her question hit me like a punch to the chest.

She was looking at me with those wide, hopeful eyes, so much like the frightened girl I’d fallen in love with. It was almost enough to make me lie. To spin a sweet, comforting fiction.

But I couldn’t. Ty had rubbed off on me more than I cared to admit.

“If I were a stronger man…” I hesitated, my gentle smile faltering as I stared at the ground. “I’d come back.”

“No,” Ava began, her voice rising with protest, but I raised a hand to stop her.

“It would be too painful, Ava. Being around you two together… happy. It would be like burning up beside the sun.” The bitterness in my voice was unintentional, but I couldn’t take it back.

Her lips parted, but whatever words she might have offered, she kept to herself. Compassion flickered in her tear-filled eyes, a mercy I didn’t deserve.

Raising my gaze, I forced myself to look directly at her. “But I will always be watching.”

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