Page 87 of Sinful Kingdom

“How bad is it? Honestly?”

She hangs her head for a beat and my stomach bottoms out.

“Some of the cuts were really deep. They’re going to scar. Others were a little more superficial.”

I nod, accepting her words.

“I guess they’ll just make D and I more identical again, huh?”

Those dark shadows return to her eyes but the second she blinks, they’re gone again.

“I love you. Sleep.”

“Love you too, Mum,” I whisper as she disappears.

“You’re too cute,” Evie croaks sleepily.

“I’m a long way from cute right now, baby.”

“Fine. You’re a cute bad-arse.”

“That isn’t much better.”

“Is Zay okay?” she asks, peeking over at him.

I breathe out slowly, trying to find the right words.

“He will be. Surrounded by people he loves, he’ll get through it. I’m going to talk to my dad about getting him into Knight’s Ridge College,” I blurt.

“W-what? No. We can’t ask that. The fees are—”

Rolling onto my side is painful as fuck, but for her, I’ll do anything.

Pressing my fingers against her lips, I cut off her argument.

“I love you, Evie. I love you so fucking much. And that extends to him too. He deserves to have every opportunity available to him. And Knight’s Ridge will give him that.”

“But—”

My lips curl into a smile as I pinch her lips together this time.

“We’ll talk about the logistics later. For now, just know that it’s happening. I’ll fight until the death for both of you, I thought I’d already proved that. Let me do this. Let me, let us, give all three of you the kind of life you’ve all been working toward. You all deserve it.”

“Ale—” Leaning forward, I swallow down the pain and do what I’ve been desperate to do since I woke and saw her sitting in that chair watching me. I press my lips against hers.

I don’t move to deepen the kiss, and nor does she. But it’s perfect.

It’s everything.

21

EVIE

“We’re going home today,” Alex whispers in my ear as I stand at his basin with a towel wrapped around my body and my just-washed hair limp around my shoulders.

“Is that right?” I ask, my eyes finding his in the mirror.

He spent almost all of the first three days here asleep. I couldn’t really blame him after what he went through, and I was so fucking relieved to have him there beside me. But despite his presence, I still missed him terribly. The few times he was awake and allowed me glimpses of the boy I fell in love with weren’t enough. I needed to see that sparkle in his eyes and his cheeky smirk.

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