Page 17 of Hers to Claim

“I fucked up. With everything that was happening, I forgot to take care of something.” He exhaled a harsh breath and focused his attention on Mari. “You had me take your memories of one of the parties last year.”

“What?” She stared at him, incredulous. “That makes no sense.” She paused to think. “Wait, yeah. Now I remember you.” She gestured toward Dante. “You were at one of my father’sparties. But you told me he passed?” she asked as she turned back toward Cisco.

“Holy shit.” Dante shook his head. “You’re serious?”

Cisco took another large gulp that emptied his glass. “He didn’t pass. You met in the powder room. And then when I came back after you were very upset.”

“What the fuck?” Dante stood. “You gave me the cold shoulder, told me to leave and never come back, knowing you were going to just erase me?”

Anxiety twisted Mari’s gut. Could she have done that? She definitely didn’t remember it that way.

Cisco made a calming gesture. “What she said to me was that you had made her understand what it was like to be adored, and she couldn’t live her life knowing that was possible for her.”

Dante looked up at the gargoyle, pain twisting his face. He glanced toward Mari, his expression stricken. “That’s so fucked up.”

Mari clutched her hands together in her lap. She didn’t remember any of that, but she could imagine that if she’d had an experience where she’d felt that much, it was a choice she would have made.

“You have no idea what her life was like. I did what she asked because that’s what she needed. If you have to be mad at someone for this, it should be me.”

“I’m not mad at anyone,” Dante said, sitting again heavily. “I’m fucking sad. It was a beautiful experience and I feel awful that it hurt her so much that she had to escape from it.”

Cisco walked toward Mari and crouched in front of her. “Do you want the memories back? You don’t have to take them. We can just go forward as we are.”

She had a hard time meeting his eyes, but she finally managed. His face was concerned. “It must have been really lovely to upset me that much?”

Cisco nodded, lifting one hand to rest on her knee. “It was.”

Dante exhaled an exasperated sigh. “So she doesn’t remember, but you do?”

Cisco flicked a sympathetic glance Dante’s way. “When I take the memories I hold them as if they were my own.”

Mari put one hand on his chest. “I want them back.”

Cisco straightened slightly, moving his hand to hold the back of her neck. “You’re sure?”

Mari took a calming breath, and then nodded. “It’s unfair to him, and unfair to you.”

“When I restore the memories, you’re going to feel exactly what you did when I took them. It will pass, but it’s likely to be very upsetting.”

She was twice as certain as she had been before that she didnotwant the memories of the night of the ritual on her sixteenth birthday back if that was the case. “I understand.”

“Why don’t we just go forward as we are?” Dante asked. “It sucks, but the idea that you’ll be hurting again sucks more.”

Mari showed him a sad smile. She already knew it was going to be awful. He was so kind. Of course he’d made her feel cherished at a time in her life when she’d desperately needed it and also couldn’t accept it without putting his life in danger. “I need to know.”

Cisco’s fingers curled around the back of her neck. She stared into his all-black eyes and tried to relax. The touch of his magic was comfortable and familiar, even though she was filled with anxiety about what would happen. The memories flooded back suddenly, and she had to relive all of them in an instant from start to finish.

The flirtation she shared with the charming unicorn. The sex that was better than anything had been to that point. The easy affection that she had never felt before in her life. Her heart broke all over again when she had to push Dante away, andthen once more when Cisco told her she was already adored, just before he wiped the night from her memory. She choked on a sob as she leaned forward, clutching her stomach.

Saints, it was awful. The crushing certainty that she would try to find Dante, knowing that her father would kill him, but that she wouldn’t be able to help herself because he’d beenexactlywhat she needed. The affection that had been denied to her for her entire life had dropped into her lap, and she knew at once that she couldn’t ever have it again without risking his life. Her shoulders shook with sobs that only got worse when she remembered the devastation that had shown in Cisco’s eyes.

Cisco pulled her into an embrace, wrapping his arms and his wings around her as he pulled her from the chair to hold her against him.

Mari had no idea how long she cried, but when she was done, much later, she felt empty. She wiped at her face and tapped Cisco’s chest so he would let her go. He placed her delicately on her feet.

“Thank you,” she said, raising one hand to touch his cheek. “I’m sorry you had to carry that. It must have been hard.”

He smiled a little. “It made your life easier.”

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