Page 82 of Rapunzel Unchained

But...

The desire to be the one to do it was gone.

Turning to my men, I placed my hands on my hips and smiled. “You know what? They’re all yours.”

Looks of confusion and disbelief came back at me. Like they didn’t understand what I was giving up right then. Or if they did they couldn’t believe I would just not want it anymore.

That made two of us.

I hardly believed what I was saying, and yet it rang true. I didn’t want their deaths. At least, not by my hand. I didn’t care about them. I finally achieved my goal to save the humans. The only thing I hadn’t gotten was revenge on Snow.

My gaze locked with Adam’s. This man. This man was the descendant of the woman I hated so much. She destroyed all my years of planning and sacrifice. She took the only man I ever loved — which wasn’t true now.

I had them. All five of them had my heart and I had theirs.

The question was... was that enough?

I looked at Adam, and I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to blame all my problems on him and his ancestors. It wasn’t his fault.

It wasn’t his fault.

He lied to me. To protect me, to keep me from hating him at first sight, which I would have. Without question, as soon as I got my memories back, I would have killed him right then and there.

It didn’t matter that he was sweet and self-sacrificing. That he read stupid dirty books whenever he was uncomfortable witha conversation. I would have watched the life bleed from his eyes and laughed.

The thought of Adam’s lifeless face made my heart hurt. I didn’t want to kill him. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to love him and let him love me.

Giving up some of my control to these men who wanted nothing more than the best for me might be hard. It would take time to let go but I trust them. They would always have my best interest at heart, and that was why it was so easy to just give this one thing.

This symbol of my long fought war, I didn’t want it. Not now, not ever. Not anymore.

Reaching for Adam, I smiled softly. My hands cupped his face as I leaned in. “Do what you want with them. I don’t care.”

“Are you sure?” His arms wrapped around me, the hesitancy in his voice clear. Like he thought I would change my mind at any moment. “This is everything you wanted. Everything you fought for.”

“No. It’s not. This.” I pressed my forehead to his chin. “This is what I want. You. All of you.” I glanced to the side, before lifting my eyes to his once more. “I love you, Adam. I don’t care that you lied or that Snow was your great-great-great-however-many-great-grandmother. I just want you.”

Adam hugged me tightly against him. “About forty greats to be accurate and if you’re sure then...” He shot a look at Gage, who walked forward confidently as he drew his knives.

“Eva!” Luke shouted. “Watch out.”

I didn’t even get a chance to look before Adam shoved me to the side, throwing out a bolt of light. A squeal and then something wiggly shot up into the air. Smoke sizzled off what used to be a snake on the ground beside me.

A snap and hiss jerked our attention to Carisa as she pulled the gag from her mouth, her face seething with rage. Snakescrawled up her body, wrapping around her arms. “If I’d been able to talk, I would have begged you to kill me right then so you could spare me of your disgusting display of love and...” She gagged, her head darting to the side. “Nauseating devotion.”

Fire burned from my palms. “You should have stayed where you were. I was showing you mercy.”

“Ha!” She threw her head back and laughed, “Mercy? Just like a pathetic human.”

Another snap and Jetta was on his feet. Dark magic billowed around his hands. “You’re going to let us leave, or we’ll tell everyone about your little human here.”

Every one of my men turned at their words, their own powers coming to the forefront. Izzy appeared out of a glowing purple portal, and Blake’s eye glowed as he prepared to attack. Luke created daggers out of pure light, while Zane had his own dark magic wisping around his hands. If possible, the muscles in Gage’s arms bulged and grew larger, his magic sweeping through his body in a show of power.

“You’re outnumbered and outpowered,” Adam said matter-of-factly. “There’s only one way out of this, and that’s death. You’ve already proven yourself untrustworthy, so that threat you just made will only make your deaths more violent.”

Carisa lifted off the ground, her eyes glowing with her powers. “Then death it is.”

Chapter 39

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