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“You don’t have to keep up this pretense. We have him outnumbered. He cannot hurt you again. I promise I’ll make him suffer for what he’s done to you.”
I took a step toward her, reaching out. Only for her to recoil from me, taking a hasty step backward and clutching the railing of the ship.
“Don’t touch me. You have to let me go.”
“Katherine, I don’t know what’s happened, but we can figure this out. Let’s go to our cabin. I’ll have Teach thrown in the brig so we can talk undisturbed,” I pleaded.
“Don’t make me do this, James.” She tore her eyes from mine, slamming them shut tightly as her face paled. She looked like she might be sick.
My anxiety catapulted me into full-blown panic. “What’s wrong? What’s he done to you?”
She stood silent for a moment, her eyes shut, clutching at the new necklace, the glowing light emanating from between her fingers. When she opened her eyes again and met mine, it was as if another person was looking back at me. Her emerald eyes had lost their luster, and a shadow of magic danced in the dark depths. Now, it was my turn to recoil.
“Your question is all wrong. You should be asking, what have you done to me? You’re the one who’s broken us.”
“That’s not true,” I countered. “All I’ve ever done is love you.” I was vaguely aware that we had an audience, but I didn’t care. Everything felt surreal—like the balance of my happiness hung on the outcome of this moment.
A sickly-sweet laugh escaped her lips. “You don’t love me. You don’t even know what love is. I was nothing more than a useful tool and a warm place to put your cock.”
My entire world was crumbling before my eyes. “I do love you. You know it’s true. I love you, and you love me,” I shouted, and it sounded like a command. I began to lose control of my emotions.
“When you love someone, you’re supposed to put them first. You’re supposed to sacrifice your own needs for theirs,” she paused for a moment, swallowing hard. “But I have never come first, have I, James? I’m second, and I always have been. Your true love is revenge.”
This was it. The turning point. I’d always thought that Katherine supported my mission. That she wanted to see me get the vengeance I deserved. All the while, I’d missed the signs. Missed the fact that my quest for revenge was costing me the one person who truly loved me.
“Oh, Katherine. I am sorry. I never?—”
“Stop. Stop that right now!” she cried, cutting off my apology. “You’re not the hero here. Your soul is dark. It’s corrupt. I can see it in your eyes. You told me once, and I should have believed you—you are the villain.”
Her words struck home. My heart stuttered in my chest. In the heat of passion, I’d shown her my darkness. But she was the one who was supposed to see whatever remnants of light remained.
“I can change. I’ll give it up. We can leave Neverland tonight.” I swallowed back the lump in my throat. “I’ll renounce my vendetta against Pan. I’ll rearrange fate. I’ll change everything that I have planned. I’ll do it all for you.”
She was shaking her head before I’d even finished my sentence. “All of it is a lie. You’re lying to me,” she shouted, her voice on the edge of hysteria.
“I’m not lying. I love you! I’m more sure of that than anything in my life. Can’t you see it in my eyes? Can’t you hear it in my voice?” I pleaded, my words quavering with the emotions I could no longer contain.
“What I hear is a desperate man. Poor James had a rough childhood, and somehow, the universe owes you something now? Grow the fuck up! You’re just as much of a child as Peter Pan. Everyone has been wronged in some way. You are not special. You need to get over yourself and move on with your life like the rest of us, just like I am doing now. Stop playing the victim. Life isn’t fair, and maybe me leaving you is exactly what needs to happen for you to realize that.”
I tried to swallow my anger, to convince myself that she didn’t mean what she was saying. She was trying to push me away, and it was working. My ego was flayed open. I had confided in her, told her all my deepest, darkest secrets, and she was weaponizing them against me.
“Kat, I—I don’t understand?—”
“This just isn’t our time, James. This isn’t the life where we get to love each other.”
“I refuse to believe that. You know it isn’t true.”
“I needed you to need me. To put me first. But you couldn’t. You’re incapable of love.”
A growl ripped from my lips. I wouldn’t let this go any further. I refused to let her continue down this path. My demon took over. Rage filled the hole that was burrowing into my heart. “I won’t let you leave me. I will chain you to my side until you come to your senses if I must.”
“Yet more evidence that you are the villain in this story. After all I’ve been through, you’d take away my freedom? For what? To ensure you can fuck me whenever you please? You would force a life upon me that I do not want?”
“So, what? You’re going to choose him over me?” I asked, gesturing to Teach, who stood watching with a smug grin on his face. “He’s treated you like property. Even if I’m as bad as you say, I’m still better than him.”
“You can’t tell me how to feel. At least with Edward, I know where I stand. I know what I’m getting myself into,” she said adamantly. Her hands trembled for a moment before she crossed them over her chest. “I. Do. Not. Want. You. Anymore! You must let me go.”
I sank to my knees, the wooden deck rising to meet me.
