Page 47 of Gorgeous Nightmare

Tears threaten to spill onto my cheeks, but I stuff them back down.

I’m not even a memory to him anymore.

I turn to my mother, trying to ignore the ghost of my past.

“You don’t even know what I did for you,” she spits, her voice shaking from fury or sorrow, I can’t tell. “I built this world from pain. Built this empire out of spite. I created a place where women like us would never have to kneel again.”

I stay still and watch her fall apart, unravel thread by thread.

“I was the first woman to say no, and they treated me like a monster for it.”

She takes a breath, and I swear I catch the glimmer of a tear in the corner of her eye.

“They said I was unworthy because I wanted to rule beside them. Not beneath them. They said I was too loud. That I was only worthy if I was quiet and on my knees.”

A cruel laugh escapes her lips, her voice turning dark.

“So I took everything from them. I made them worship me, then bleed for it. I fed on their lust, their shame. And I built a world where I was a God.”

She looks at me again, her eyes searing into my own.

“You’re part of me, Aisling. You have my blood and my power. I know that rage lives in you, you can’t pretend it doesn’t.”

“No,” I say coldly. “I will never fucking be like you.”

She sighs, annoyed by my refusal.

“Such a pretty little failure,” she breathes, glancing over her shoulder at Ronan.

“Kill her,” she says before handing Ronan a blade.

I can see him grab it, wrapping his fingers around it slowly. Within seconds, he’s in front of me with a feral look in his eyes.

I don’t flinch as he pushes the knife to my throat, beads of crimson pooling under the blade.

If this is how I die, by his hands, I’ll give my life a thousand times over. The moments I shared with him were few, but I wouldn’t trade the memories we made for anything. He’ll always be my sweet boy.

I hold my breath, eyes closed. There’s no question in my mind. This isokay.

Silence.

I release a breath and tense my body, ready, but the seconds drag on.

“No.” His voice cuts through the stillness, and a smile creeps onto my face. He’s still here.

Releasing the blade from my neck, he turns on Lilith before plunging it deep into her chest, pinning her to the tree behind her like some sort of sick offering.

She wails in agony, causing the birds to burst from the dark tree tops. Black flames burst from the wound, lighting the tree and her body on fire.

I watch as her face twists. And I now see her for what she really is.

Not a goddess.

Not a queen.

Just a devil that became the same monster she tried to destroy.

She lets out a final howl, reaching for me just before her body bursts into a glittering ash.

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