Page 95 of Break Her Heart
At first, I thought me having to be with him at all times was about my safety. But now I’d started to realize that he was just so obsessed with me and couldn’t admit it.
And now? We were so far past that.
I flipped the page over and tried to focus again.
La… Lav… Lavina.
Ugh. Way to kill a mood.
Lavina is a… b… bi—“Bitch!” I burst out, grinning. “Ha! Lavina is a bitch. That’s a good one.”
Benedict slammed his book shut hard enough to make the table rattle.
“Why does he have you here?”
I blinked at him. “To help?”
“Is that what you’re doing?Helping?”
“I—” I faltered. “I don’t know. He said I needed to help.”
Benedict leaned back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated.”
“You don’t think I am?”
“It doesn’t seem like it. You were more useful before the two of you started doing… whatever it is you’re doing.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I pushed the papers aside and stood from the table, the chair creaking as I walked away. My fingers drifted across the surface of the nearest shelf, trailing dust and the cool edges of relics I couldn’t name. Bits of forgotten history that meant everything to someone once—and maybe nothing now.
Maybe that was what August and I were destined to become.
The silence pressed in.
Since August and I had found our way back to each other, I’d been living in a comfortable delusion. Letting myself feel safe and distracted. Like maybe this could be our life. Like we had more time than we actually did.
But we didn’t.
We had less than two months.
Less than two months before the Blood Moon.
And the fear that had been buried under stolen moments and warm sheets began to bubble up again. I had lost too many things. I couldn’t lose him, too.
I stopped in front of a cracked glass case and stared at the object inside without seeing it. My heart thudded harder.
“He can’t come back,” I said suddenly, turning to Benedict. “I didn’t do what I did for nothing.”
He looked up slowly, eyes narrowing. “What did you do?”
“I killed him.” It was barely above a whisper. “I killed Carrow. I just didn’t know he would take over August’s body.”
Before he could react, August burst through the doors, smiling from ear to ear.
“I have an idea. One that will get you out of the archives and one that might actually help us.”
I quickly smoothed my expression. I didn’t want him to see me worried when I knew he spent his nights restless. Tossing and turning from whatever nightmare he had conjured up. It wasn’t me and the mark doing it. There hadn’t been a day when he didn’t feed on me for as long as I could remember. It was Carrow and the Blood Moon.
“And what would that be?” I asked as I plastered a smile on.
