Page 3 of Darkest Heart

His nose twitched. “That’s not very nice. Especially after I gave you a drink.”

I laughed. “If I were mortal still, I’d be dead after the way you’ve treated me.”

“But you’re not.” He shrugged. “You’re an anomaly, just as we expected.”

I arched a brow. “Who’s we? Why did you expect it?”

“The aniccipere king.”

I licked my lips, shaking my head. “I thought they hated monarchies.”

“No, they hate the sangaree monarchy, and rightly so.”

“I didn’t realize there were two.” My eyes bore into his, and I exhaled slowly.

“There are now.”

I grimaced. “Are you not afraid, Astor?” I asked as we listened to the cries of the mortals left behind, and the slurping as the aniccipere finished devouring the souls of their victims and eating their flesh. “Not even a little? These were the stories we were told. How can you stand it?” I demanded, uncaring that they could hear my every word, if they were even paying attention. “Those people down there are from your home, too. One of them could have been your mom.”

“No.” He snapped, the darkness of his vampire curse roiling on his features. “We have a deal. They won’t hurt my family.”

“It’s good to know there’s some humanity left in there.” I snarled. “Even if it’s just a shred. If anything, it just makes all this worse.”

“I have humanity.” He leaned forward, desperation cloaking his eyes. “I used to hate vampires. You know that. I didn’t want any of this. All I cared about was staying alive. I enjoyed my life with my mom, friends and you. I loved you. I cared about you. But I was dying, and I didn’t want to go yet. I liked being alive…”

More than how you felt about us.I finished his sentence in my head. He’d allowed hundreds to be slaughtered so he could live. He gave my mom up, and if Sebastian hadn’t kidnapped me first, I’d be dead.

I caught his gaze as it traveled over me, and for a second, we connected. I saw the boy I fell for, and I could swear he saw a semblance of who we were together in me. But being with Sebastian showed me what genuine love was, and I knew now what I had with Astor was nothing more than an illusion. It was a dream of love and romance that I wanted so badly; I made Astor fit into the mold. I placed him on a pedestal and ignored all the manipulations and pain, because feeling loved was worth it then. I was the perfect partner for him. He knew he could treat me how he wanted, because I didn’t respect myself enough to leave. No matter how many times he hurt me.

A heart-wrenching sob echoed in our vicinity from a mortal below, and I closed my eyes. It was harder for the mortals left behind after the feeds?being locked in a cage, knowing what was coming. They got extra time, but in the end, there was only one way out of here—in pieces, left outside of the house for the crows to feed on the leftovers. If there were any.

“Olivia!” Astor shouted, and I flung my eyes open. “You always go off like that. Pay attention.”

My eyebrows rose on my forehead as my mind was dragged back to past arguments. About flaws he tried to fix in me in our years together. Even now. There was always something I did that angered him. But I wasn’t that coy girl anymore who tried to change herself because I wasn’t perfect in someone else’s eyes.

“You have some nerve.”

His fists balled at his sides, and redness seeped into his cheeks. “Listen,” he bellowed, but I didn’t flinch. I kept eye contact. I wasn’t afraid of him. He exhaled heavily, puffing out his cheeks as he slumped into the chair. Then rubbed his forehead, shaking his head. “I didn’t want to shout at you. If you’d only listen, for once in your life…” He pursed his lips, taking in several deep breaths before continuing. “I am not the bad guy, Liv. Whether or not you see it. I don’t need you to feel bad for me. That’s not why I’m telling you.”

“Then what?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’m not supposed to say a word, but when they’re…feasting.” He shuddered. “They’re distracted and not listening. It’s the only time.”

I pushed away my rage and made room for calm. I had to find a way out of here, if only to protect the people I loved. If it meant listening to his sob story, then so be it. “So, the guild sent you to Sanmorte as a spy,” I said, continuing from where he left off earlier.

He nodded. “They wanted me to get close to the king. Once I was here, I realized they’d sent me on a suicide mission, with a slight chance I might be able to report something back to them before I died.” His jaw clenched, shoulders tensing as he sat upright. “I was tired of being used as a puppet. None of them cared about me, so why should I care back? Velda offered me a deal on behalf of Gwen. They knew who I was and why I was there. Information about the guild was valuable, and about your mom. So I told them, in exchange for my life. Can you blame me for choosing myself?”

Yes.

“You didn’t have to go on the mission at all,” I pointed out. “You didn’t have a gun to your head.”

“I had to go. Because of you.” He averted his gaze, and my stomach knotted. “They told me something was coming for you. I guess they knew you were my weakness.”

I looked away, knowing it was manipulation. It had to be. He sold me out. My mom. The whole guild was dead because of him.

He continued somberly. “They said you were in danger. That there was a prophecy.”

I furrowed my brows.Please.“This is ridiculous.”

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