Page 28 of Heir of Darkness

“To the cabin.”

She crossed her arms. “You didn’t win.”

“And whose fault is that? Unfortunately for you, I didn’t lose either.”

“I should have known that bet was too good to be true,” she said.

“You knew I was going to win,” he said.

“I guess we’ll never know for sure,” she muttered. “Now, get out. I need to change.”

The door was slammed in his face before he could come up with some smartass comment. He rolled his eyes, taking a seat on her bed. He continued looking around her room, obsessed with memorizing every inch of it. Once they moved in together,he would let her decorate the house however she deemed fit. As long as every inch of the space felt like her, he wouldn’t mind.

His eyes landed on the nightstand beside the bed. It was a light brown color, scratches and marks covering it. On it lay a book, some kind of romance. The man and woman on the cover held each other passionately. Valerio could only assume what the book was about. He had read a few she purchased at bookstores over the years, wanting to get a better sense of his future wife. All he could say was that she might have been innocent, but her mind was far from it.

There was a picture of her and the other girls, all with big smiles. She even had a picture with her family. Her father wasn’t smiling; neither was her mother or Finn, but Luna kept her smile big. That was the only picture of her family in her entire room. All of the other ones only included the girls or were random prints she had purchased. Beside the small picture frames was a single little rose in a small vase, also on the verge of drying out completely.

He was snapped out of his daze by the door opening. Luna walked out with her hair down, freshly brushed. She wore a big hoodie and gray sweats, her face bare of any makeup. Valerio’s breath hitched. He would never get used to her beauty no matter how many times he stared at her face.

“Hope you don’t mind me going in my worst clothes,” she said sarcastically.

“You’ve never looked more perfect,” he told her, drinking every inch of her.

Her face fell, stunned. “Let’s just go before it gets too late.”

He stood, letting her lead the way. She grabbed her purse and her phone, sliding on a pair of sneakers. They exited the apartment, walking all the way to the elevator and then back to Valerio’s car. He helped her in, closing the door before rushing to the other side. Like a routine they had unconsciouslyestablished, he drove quickly through the dark night and she turned on the heat, leaning her head against the window.

Luna had dozed off, but finally woke up when the car came to a complete stop. Valerio turned it off, but she was already ripping off the seat belt and leaving the car before he could say a word. He made his way after her, unlocking the cabin and letting her enter first.

It looked the same as it did last time. The only difference was there were snacks on the counter and new blankets on the couch. Luna made her way to the couch, settling down while Valerio began lighting the fireplace.

“You don’t have to make a big fire,” she told him. “I’m already warm enough under these clothes.”

“You could always remove them,” he said with a smirk. “I wouldn’t want you to overheat.”

“I bet you would like that,” she muttered, crossing her arms.

“What? You overheating or you taking off your clothes?”

She rolled her eyes. “Where did you even find this cabin?”

He lit a match, throwing it into the fire before standing and wiping his hands on his pants. The fire was small, but it lit up the room and warmed it. “I built it.”

“Since when are you a builder?” Luna asked, surprised.

“Since I needed a hobby outside of killing and being terrifying.”

“Does that mean the roof is going to fall in on us?” she asked him.

“If it does, I’ll save you,” he told her.

“When did you build it?”

“A few years after my mom died,” he said, walking over to the kitchen. Luna turned around on the couch, watching as he took out two glasses from the cupboard.

No one ever talked about his mother. After her funeral, not a single thing was whispered about her out of respect, but it didn’t mean they didn’t have questions.

“I can hear your mind working a million miles per minute. If you have questions, just ask them,” he told her, opening the small fridge to pull out some kind of juice.

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