Page 51 of Monster's Pretty Bride

The words should make me laugh.

Instead, they make my pulse slam harder.

I can’t stop, so I move closer to feel the warmth of her breath, to see the pulse in her throat quicken.

"Careful what you wish for, Eryss," I murmur. "You might get more than you can handle."

Her breath stutters, but she doesn’t push me away.

Doesn’t run.

Neither of us moves.

Neither of us blinks.

The room, the tension, the two Purna witches still watching, none of it matters.

For this moment, it's just us.

I detest how much I don’t want to let go.

23

ERYSS

Amelia's hands hover over my side, her magic seeping into my skin in slow, steady pulses. It's warm. Soothing. Yet, all I can focus on is the gargoyle pacing like a caged beast nearby, spitting out insults like venom.

"Careful," Naranus sneers, arms crossed over his hard chest, molten gold eyes locked onto Amelia’s hands as though she might rip me apart instead of healing me. "Wouldn’t want to corrupt her with your filth."

Amelia exhales through her nose, patience thinning. "I’m healing her, you ungrateful?—"

"Keep your sorcery off me." His tail flicks, muscles flexing beneath his cracked skin, his stance brimming with restrained violence. "I don’t trust your kind."

"They’re trying to help us!" I snap, flinching when Amelia presses harder into my side, forcing the healing faster.

Naranus glares at me like I’ve personally offended him. "Help?" His voice is sharp, dripping with disbelief. "You really think they’re here out of kindness? They’re only here because they need you alive to finish your mission."

The words hit too hard.

I swallow. "And what would you know about my mission?"

He leans in, wings shifting, making the small space feel even smaller. "I know a sacrifice when I see one, little bride."

My breath shudders.

"You don’t think it’s strange?" He tilts his head, watching me with unsettling intensity. "That they offered you up so willingly? That they sent you, alone into my stronghold with nothing but a blade and a name? Tell me, Eryss. Did it ever occur to you that they never expected you to succeed?"

I grit my teeth. "Shut up."

"They sent you to die."

"Shut up!"

The magic falters around me as Amelia pulls back, eyes flicking between the two of us, but I barely register it. My heartbeat pounds too loudly in my ears. Because he’s right.

I don’t want him to be.

But something deep, dark, and familiar whispers that he is. Of course, I’ve known all along. I just don’t want to admit it to him. Even Catalina and Amelia looks at me with pity, and they’re trying to hide it.

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