Page 145 of Vicious Hearts

That is, if I can even move at all.

Then he turns, and I’m pinned to the wall by those piercing green eyes. A wrenched sob escapes from my lips, and I flinch as he strides right up to me and suddenly grabs my chin in his hand, jamming me against the wall as he forces me to look at him.

“I—I won’t tell—”

“This is ME,Una,” he rasps darkly, his voice like steaming ice as his eyes eviscerate me. “This is the meno oneneeds to see. The meyoudon’t want to know.”

I’m still shaking with fear. But when I look into his eyes, even behind the monstrous mask twisting his face right now, I seehim.

The Cillian I know.

“What if I do? Want to know that version of you, I mean?” I croak.

Cillian’s eyes narrow to mere slits. “Careful—”

“I asked you aquestion,” I spit, grabbing his wrist.

“And I toldyouto be ca—”

He flinches briefly when my hand reaches up and cups his face gently. I swallow, a tear tricking down my face as our eyes lock.

“I want to know you.Allof you.”

“I promise you,” he growls. “You do not.”

“Try me.”

I shudder as his eyes burn with a green fire that both terrifies and captivates me.

That both scares me away and brings me running back for more, every time.

“You’ll regret this,” he murmurs.

“Let’s find out.”

33

CILLIAN

“I was born this way.”

Back at our place, Una sits on the floor against the back of the couch, wrapped in a blanket and holding a steaming mug of herbal tea. I’m by one of the windows which is open a crack, flicking the silver Zippo in my hand open and shut as the tip of the cigarette glows red.

We haven’t spoken much since she walked in on what she saw earlier.

Not my best moment.

Hardly my worst.

I know something hangs in the balance here. She’s looking at me like she still sees the me that she knows—the man I can appear to be. But the mask has slipped. The façade has cracked. She thought she knew the darkness in me before, but now, she’s seen the true devil that lives under my skin.

No one has ever looked right at that and stayed afterward. Not even my uncle Lorcan.

I take a slow hit of nicotine, gritting my teeth as I drag my gaze back to Una.

“I’m…different, Una. I know you see a monster—”

“I don’t—”

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