Page 41 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
Stassi sat on my bed, her toes wiggling as she painted them black. I ignored her in favor of bending down and lifting one of my floorboards. Privacy was the last thing on my mind as I took out the small blood-red box. Opening it up, I paused momentarily to touch Asher’s amethyst necklace, the cold gem making my heart ache. Then I grabbed her anklet, which I had found on her side table when I first came back to this room in Pike. Gods, it had looked perfect on her.
With a deep breath, I set them both down and picked up one of the rolled pieces of paper. A chuckle slipped past my lips as I read the back and forth between us.
I miss the sound of your laugh and feel of your hand in mine more than ever today.
You are so sappy. How is it anyone fears you when all you spout is poetic nonsense?
P.S. I miss you too. So much.
Do not lie, I know you love it when I praise you, my beautiful creature.
Oh please, you are so full of yourself, demon.
When you touch yourself tonight as you think of me, make sure to write back with that dirty little hand after.
For you, my darling idiot, anything.
“If you’re going to cry, will you do it in your bathroom? I’m starting to feel a hangover coming on and I don’t care for your sad little sniffles to make my headache worse,” Stassi said. I looked up to find her now blowing on the polish, still wiggling her toes like an annoying little youngling. The high demon said she was tens of thousands of years old. I wished she would act like it.
“You know, Stassi, I have a remedy for headaches.” The pink-haired fiend looked over to me, a single brow rising in interest. My smile widened, my old self surfacing for a moment. “Death. I can help you out, if you would like.”
She promptly threw one ofmypillows at me, which I swatted away. Ignoring her and rolling my eyes, I returned the note to the box. Then I grabbed the new note from Henry and reread the final line.
We are going to bring her home, Bell.
It was hard to think of such a bright future. Or, it had been. But now that I was free of her magic, I could finally see the light at the end of this tunnel. Breathing deeply to stop myself fromactually crying in front of the vermin on my bed, I rolled the note back up and tossed it inside.
“I cannot go with you when you search for Stella,” I said as I picked the box up.
Stassi huffed, drawing my attention. “You have no choice.”
“Helping you is not the problem. It is the fact that I have been absent from my army for far too much of the last year. I need to focus as war nears.”
“A much worse war will come if we don’t find Stella,” she insisted. I watched as she stood, curious about what she would do. Instead of hostility, she merely stopped in front of me, peering down with a face that looked simultaneously furious and panicked. Stassi wasscared. “This is more important than anything else, Bellamy. The high demon of Sun and Moon is our only shot at beating Padon—at surviving.” Sincerity coated her words, the sweetness of such a thing unable to mask the bitterness of the imminent future.
Limited options made all desperate, and I was beginning to realize that even gods—no,high demons—were not above hopelessness.
Once more, I chose to ignore her completely. I stood, bringing the box with me to my small wooden desk. I set it down, pulling out a fresh piece of paper from the top drawer that she had carelessly disheveled earlier. Her silence seemed to grow hostile, charging the air, but I did not care. My fingers grazed a pencil, the graphite cold against my heated fingers. Hunching forward, I began yet another letter.
Asher,
I hate what you have done to me. To us. You took my choice away, something you have always been so adamantly against. Yet here I sit, unable to come after you. Well, sort of. A long story that I can summarize in four sentences.
I would give anything and everything to fight with you right now. To breathe the air that you do. To hold you again and feel at home in your nearness. Of all the things in this world, you are and will always be the most precious.
Soon, we will be able to argue again, beautiful creature.
Love, Bellamy
“What is it with this princess that has all of you oafs on your knees for her?” Stassi asked from over my shoulder, reading as I wrote. I snatched up the paper, rolling it quickly and tossing it into the box.
“Your insufferable personality and your inability to mind your fucking business probably pushes males towards other females often,” I muttered, snatching the box and moving to return it to its home. She followed, a growl emanating from her chest.
“You need to take this seriously. Do you think I don’t have someone I wish I could run and get? That I don’t want more than being a lackey desperate for a new master? Our desires don’t matter right now,prince.”
Gods if she did not know exactly where to strike me. Even worse, she was right.
Sighing, I stood straight once more, facing off with the tiny beast.
