Page 245 of Inferno

“Is that you? Awesome job,” I praise her.

“It’s me, you and Mommy,” she gushes.

“Can you take it to her?”

I pick up the paper and hold it out in front of us.

“Mommy said that the Queen can save herself in her story, but she needs the Prince, doesn’t she?”

I swallow the lump in my throat.

“Is this the story Mommy tells you?” I whisper, trying to stop my voice from breaking.

“Yea. You’ll have to get her to tell you. It’s the best story. But I make her change the ending so the prince saves her from the bad man, and they live happily ever after with their princess.”

She snuggles up against my side, and I close my eyes, resting my head on top of hers.

“The Queen is the strongest woman on the planet, the Prince just needs to help her win, that’s all. Not saving, just protecting her so she can be the powerful woman she is.”

She nods against my arm and her fingers trace the tattoos on my hands as she lets out a yawn.

“You have no color on your tattoos? None of them?”

I shake my head and roll up my sleeves to show her more.

“Nope. No color in my life.”

Well, until she and her mom arrived.

Fuck, I miss her more than anything in the world right now. She should be the one sitting here, not me.

I cannot do this without her.

“But we all need color in our life,” Isabella says softly.

“That we do, Princess. Want to add some to mine?”

The smile that lights up her face makes me want to permanently get whatever drawings she picks inked into my skin.

I can’t fucking do this without Charlotte.

I want to hate her for this, but I can’t. Not when I saw the pain in her eyes.

That silent plea will haunt me forever.

I promised to break her, to ruin her, when all along that was never what I truly wanted.

I am alive because of her, but I’ve never felt more dead inside without her.

I watch silently as Isabella makes the skull pink and draws some new flowers.

“Show Mommy this. She loves flowers.”

I stroke her hair.

“I know she does.”

I can’t even look at her. I feel awful, but all I see is Charlotte, and it’s like I’ve been stabbed through the heart.

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