Page 35 of Touched By Darkness

“That’s fair. So try me. Give me something.”

“Give you something?”

“You know…” We come to a stop outside the classroom. “Trust me with something simple. Let me show you I’m not this horrible version you remember me as.”

Chewing on my lip, I regard him. The side he showed of himself last time was as true as the side I’m seeing of him now. That’s one thing I’m learning about Hell. Everything exists in a prism of colors here, and nothing is black and white. Daemon once said morals don’t exist in Eden, but I think they do. Maybe they express themselves differently, and maybe they’re sometimes questionable, but they exist in their own shade of gray.

“Okay…” I draw in a deep breath. “It hurts to have to fight for their affection. I’m no one to them now.” With a sigh, I whisper, “I’m repeating myself.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dmitriy says, lowering his voice to match mine. “Get it off your chest.”

“It’s just… It hurts to lose their love. All those memories... It’s all gone, and now I have to make them fall in love with me again. And I don’t even know if I’ll succeed. What if I don’t? That thought scares me more than I want to admit.”

Dmitriy watches me for a moment with a sympathetic look in his eyes—the kind of look that makes my skin crawl. Why? Because I hate feeling weak, and I have no control over my situation right now.

“It’s okay to be scared. You should use it. What was it you said? You need to piss Daemon off. Whatever you did last time, keep doing it.”

I nod slowly, staring past him at the closed door. “It’ll all work out. I can’t give up yet.”

Nudging my shoulder, he smiles. “Besides, you nailed him in the head. How can he not fall for you now?”

I snort a laugh, as I open the door and enter the classroom. “He’s more likely to kill me.”

“To him, that’s the equivalent of love.”

My head shakes as I pull out a chair and take a seat. “That just shows that you don’t know him.”

“I know he’s a pain in the fucking ass, and I’d gladly see him dethroned.”

The teacher turns around, and her lips spread in a smile that’s too big for her face. It’s the kind of smile that makes me shrink back in my seat because I know what’s happening.

“Students, we have a new pupil in the class.” As one, they all turn to look at me, except for Daemon, who’s too busy scrolling on his phone. “Would you like to come up here and tell us a little about yourself?”

No, absolutely not.Scooting my chair back, I reluctantly walk up to the front, inhaling a breath before turning around and flashing my brightest smile. It’s so fake that I should win an award.

“Say hello to our new student, everyone.” The teacher smiles at me gently.

Daemon finally looks up from his phone, watching me closely with those dark, stormy eyes of his that remind me of thunderstorms and lightning flashes.

Ronan, on the other hand, has an easy smile on his face. The kind of smile that makes girls swoon and drop to their knees.

Meanwhile, Alaric is watching me through narrowed eyes, as if he’s trying to figure me out.

I barely acknowledge them. In order to catch their attention, I have to do the opposite of the other girls here and play hard to get, which isn’t easy to do when I want to throw myself at their feet and beg for their love.

“Tell us a little something about yourself.”

Great, now I must invent a story. Making up lies on the spot isn’t exactly my forte, so I try to stick as close to the truth as I can. “I was recently kicked out of Eden, and now here I am, rocking the black wings.”

Dmitriy hides his chuckle behind his closed fist.

The teacher blinks. “Y-you were kicked out of Eden?”

“In a nutshell, yes.”

“No one has been kicked out of Eden since…” Her eyes flit over to Daemon.

“The fall? Yes, I know, which is why Dmitriy’s uncle has so kindly taken me in.”

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