Page 53 of The Heart of a Villain

Sliding my hands under her back and knees, I lift her as she sighs, and my hands curl into fists from the hatred aimed at myself for not guarding my room better.

She should have never found this envelope that was part of my plan a long time ago to crush her illusions.

Only…

After touching her, I knew I couldn’t do it.

Lachlan might be my enemy, but Aileen… she became more than bait and that’s a crime in itself.

For no princess deserves to end up with a villain who stabbed her right in the heart and let it rip in two.

Once upon a time, I allowed the darkness to consume me because it gave me strength and power that kept me alive.

Consciousness, moral code, right or wrong… they no longer mattered as long as my actions served my selfish desires.

Right in this moment, though, I wish I never touched her.

I wish I never brought her here.

I wish… I wish for so many things that are so foreign to me, and I don’t know what to call them.

For believing that I might have actual emotions that go beyond lust and need is insane.

Monsters don’t fall in love because we do not know what love is. We obsess and possess, we destroy and rage, and we claim and kill.

But I can’t help but wish.

Wish for the same thing Aileen does.

I wish I never discovered the truth, so her father could stay on the pedestal he was.

And maybe then I’d be worthy of the princess in the castle.

CHAPTER SIX

“In all the fairy tales, princesses fall for the princes.

And they are afraid of villains whose darkness consumes them.

Except in Beauty and the Beast.

Belle falls for the Beast; she falls for someone who created his own hell when he chose outward looks over the soul.

For in this fairy tale, Beast is the prince and the villain at the same time, showing us his dual personality.

Beauty fell for his torn soul.

However, what happens when the soul is soaked in so much darkness the light no longer touches it?

And the villain does not feel any remorse?

What happens then?”

Rush

Rush, 11 years old

The chains dangle from my hands as the asshole throws me inside the cage, locking it soundly while I trap the groan threatening to slip past my lips and instead grin widely at them through the bars.

---