Page 79 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

Inside was a bottle of Good Girl perfume in its signature stiletto bottle. It looked brand new. A few pretty gemstone necklaces, a bracelet, and pictures of Rune also dropped out of the box.

There were hundreds of pictures, some with her, some with Murmur, and several where Rune was alone.

The pictures looked candid. There were a few where he was smiling for the camera, but also several of him sleeping. One where he was passed out in his bed, lying on his stomach, his arms wrapped around the pillow his head was resting on. The sheet was tangled between his legs, the muscles of his back all the way past his perfect ass to his thick thighs on display.

The next picture was of the same scene, but he was awake, giving the photographer a sleepy smile.

She really loved him.

The intimacy of these photos made me wonder how much of her love was reciprocated. He clearly had feelings for her at one point.

Did she take Vivi to get him back? I had no idea how the fuck that would work.

She had to know if she hurt Vivi, he would never take her back. Even if I stepped out of the picture, hurting an innocent child was unforgivable.

I felt like I was still missing something.

I was lost in thought when the door slamming behind me made me jump and drop the photos.

Rune was standing in the doorframe, his eyes narrowed and his arms folded across his chest. His voice came out in a low and sharp tone. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?”

20

Bitches and Biters

“Ithought I told you, I don’t take orders from anyone,” I said, looking around for anything I could have missed.

Rune walked into the room, gazing at the carnage and then at me.

I met his eyes. I would not apologize for this, or anything.

He let out a sigh, rolling his eyes before putting the box spring and mattress back on the bedframe. The bedding was all still on the floor except for the bottom fitted sheet that had somehow held on to three of the bed’s corners.

“Do you feel better?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“No,” I answered honestly, turning back to the photos. “I feel like I lost control of my entire world, and instead of helping me get it back, you are sidelining me. Everyone has sidelined me, and I hate it.”

“Tori, I am not—”

“Yes, you are,” I interrupted. “You sidelined me from finding out who attacked me and why. Vivi sidelined me when she decided to find out who our father was without telling me. Sarah sidelined me when she decided to face the angel problems without really telling me, and then the really fucked-up one:you. You sidelined me when Vivi was taken. Did you really expect me to take a nap and wait for you to find something?” The words just tumbled out of my mouth, and I hadn’t even realized how I felt about everything until that moment.

“Sif doesn’t live here anymore,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “When we broke up, she moved to the Flagstaff office with her mom. Most of her stuff is there. She only came down to Phoenix for a few days. She was supposed to go back the night you and the others came to stay here. I don’t know why she stayed as long as she did. I don’t know why she took Vivi.”

“Then I guess my ransacking the room gave us answers,” I said, scooping the pictures and the jewelry back into the box before handing it to Rune. “It’s because she is in love with you.”

“No, she isn’t. She was in love with what I could give her. She felt nothing real for me.”

“But you felt something real for her. That’s enough.”

Rune scoffed. “How do you know what I felt for her?”

I took the box back from his hands and opened it, looking for the pictures of him half asleep.

“Because if a man looked at me like that when he was half asleep, I would fight to keep that feeling, especially if I had a man who looked that good waking up.”

“Youhavea man who looks that good when he wakes up. This one, in fact.” Rune rolled his eyes and then really focused on the picture. “I remember her taking this. It was when we started dating years ago.”

My stomach hardened watching Rune look through those photos. I turned towards the desk. Fire rose in my chest. I didn’t want Rune to see the jealousy that was probably written all over my face.

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