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“I will never hurt her!” My claws formed, eager to hurt him for speaking those words.
“You already have! You killed her more times than was documented, history keeps repeating itself—” he paused, and laughter followed. “I dedicated my life to protect her, and now that I found her, I am the one responsible for her death because I got confused and let you in. The monster whose skin is painted with her blood. So please just kill me and hope that in my next life, I don’t make this mistake.”
The rage inside me dimmed, and confusion took its place. “I never harmed her. Did I make her bleed? Yes, a few times, but she always asked me, she wanted it.” I sounded like an insecure little boy, a sound I wasn’t fond of. Did I hurt her? But then why stay with me? She loved me as I loved her! She craved me as I did her, how could he say I have harmed her beyond repair?
“You will kill her. It has happened before. Your soul craves power, the throne. You will do anything to have that, even kill her.”
The throne. Emlyn’s words resonated inside me.“Now that you have found your mate, it is time to claim the throne.”
But he never said I would have to kill Joanne for it because I would never. She was more important. I needed her like I needed air to breathe, I would never choose power over her love. “I don’t want the throne, I only want her.” I slumped down, letting all I knew sink in.
“You don’t remember?” he asked with pinched brows. And I just shrugged. The moon goddess told me it would be easier if I remembered, but I didn’t. I didn’t recall anything this man talked about because it didn’t happen.
“She didn’t either,” he whispered more to himself.
“She started to remember moments with her dad. But she didn’t put everything together. Maybe now she has.” I sighed, feeling defeated. “Just let me see her. If she doesn’t want me. I will go away. You can even kill me if you like.”
His gaze narrowed. “It seems I can’t.”
“Snapping my neck usually works, at least when Celine doesn’t bring me back,” I joked, hiding the fear underneath my skin.
Not knowing which words had persuaded him, he led the way. We moved back to where I came from, only this time, we took the small path that circled around the mountain.
This place was something I had never seen before, and I could understand why it was so hard to get here. It was a paradise.
You could feel it in the air. There wasn’t war here or battles. They all lived in peace, and I knew it was a good place for Joanne. Safe and away from the horror the Board and Liam had brought her.
But I also knew it was fake. It had to be. I knew what I’d felt days ago. I sensed her pain, her agony. She was being harmed beyond anything she had ever felt, and it happened when she was here.
Someone hurt her, and that person was mine. I wondered if it was the one leading me, the one that didn’t want to share his name with me. I could understand that, because what if I got captured? I could take him down with me, and now he had a sense of protection. False protection, though.
But I let him have it, let him have some sense of control. Or was that my mind playing tricks on me?
“I can’t take you further than this. You have to hide there while I get her.”
I nodded and did as he said, hid behind a curve of rocks, and then, I heard her. Her voice was soft and sweet. But the words that followed chilled me to my core.
“It’s your decision, Joanne. But I can’t protect you once his bite becomes your undoing.”
My mark would kill her? That couldn’t be. Was this what myguidetold me, that my bite would be her death? Was that the reason why it wouldn’t stay?
Chapter twenty-four
Goddess
Joanne
Didtheyknowshewas his mother? Did anyone know? They couldn’t, and if they did, they would bow down before him. So why weren’t they? Why was he made into the bad guy, or why did he lose it all those years ago?
“He was my second born son, my sweet boy.” Tears brimmed in her eyes as she sat down on some high rocks.
“Second?”
She huffed and shook her head. “William was my first and your first mate.”
Blinking away the rising confusion, I sat across from her. There wasn’t anywhere to go but back, we reached the end of the passage and it didn’t seem she was living here. “What happened and why do we keep coming back?”
“I don’t know exactly why you don’t remember, but your father knew everything. He figured it all out on his own and then he was killed.” The sadness in her eyes, the loneliness that vibrated from her felt like my own, but her words didn’t make sense.
