Page 60 of Realm of the Wicked

‘They’re beautiful, you know? Your roses,’ she whispered.

I nodded, looking at them like I was seeing them for the first time, like I was seeing them through her eyes, in the dim light, beneath the glow of the sun and moon. I looked back at Stella, pale and delicate. ‘They are.’

‘Why don’t they have thorns?’

‘You have a lot of questions for someone who should be resting. But when I planted them, I used my power over the Fringe to make them thornless. My mother loved roses, but always wished they didn’t have thorns.’ Remembering my mother, bringing a bloom from her beloved roses inside, distracted me enough that the blanket I’d made for Stella disappeared. She shivered and I frowned. ‘You’re cold. I should take you inside.’

‘I don’t want to go inside.’ Stella struggled to sit up. ‘I’m okay. You don’t need to do all this.’ She looked like she wanted to say something else, but no other words came.

‘Stop. It’s the least I can do. I’m the one that scared you off. Stay there and let me warm you up.’ Already coatless, I shrugged off my sweater, closing the distance between us to wrap it around her shoulders with my jacket. It left me in just a shirt, but it’d been ages since I felt the cold. Besides, she needed it more than me.

‘Damien.’ Stella stopped me with a hand on my arm. ‘Damien, this isn’t your fault.’

‘You’re cold and your brain isn’t working properly.’ I tucked the sweater around her shoulders, pulling it down over her sides doing my best to ignore my instinct to wrap my body around her instead. ‘And you insisted I bring you out here to the garden instead of to your bed where you belong. You should be inside. In the warmth. I can get Agatha to bring you tea, maybe some soup.’

Stella shook her head.

Giving myself one last glance at her face, I peeled myself away from the ground, getting to my feet.

‘Don’t leave.’

‘I wasn’t planning on leaving you out here alone in the dark.’ I looked over her entire body with a shrewd gaze. ‘Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?’ My brain ran a million miles a minute, trying to think if I’d missed an injury when I examined her.

Stella shook her head. ‘Will you come sit with me?’

‘I…’ I hesitated. She might be suffering from hypothermia. I should’ve taken her inside, but I struggled to deny her anything. ‘I could run you a bath.’

‘No.’ She patted the grass next to her. ‘Come lay down. Please.’

I gently placed myself on the grass next to her, resting against the fence. It went against both of my conflicting instincts, but I couldn’t find it in me to say no to her. I could feel every inch of space between us, reminding me of everything I couldn’t have. The trellises arched above us, the roses reaching for light, no matter the source.

‘You know, when I had first planted these, I wasn’t sure they’d bloom. Artificial light, different soil. There was a whole bunch of things wrong. I thought for sure they’d wither away. And yet, here they are.’

I shook my head, looking up at the soft blooms, nearly glowing in the dual light.

We fell into a comfortable silence until she turned to face me, curling deeper into my sweater and jacket. Her face flickered in the glow of the fire.

‘Do you like it?’

I looked down at her, pretty brown eyes framed by thick lashes, her freckles more prominent than normal from the evening. ‘Do I like what?’ I liked a lot of things. A lot of things I shouldn’t.

‘Hurting people. The ones who deserve it, I mean.’

Her gaze was so clear and vulnerable. ‘No. I don’t. But sometimes, its… unavoidable.’

‘Why do you do it then?’ she asked.

I sighed. ‘I don’t always have a choice, Stella. It’s expected of me. Violence kind of comes with the title.’

‘But you chose this?’

I closed my eyes quickly, unable to look at her when I answered. ‘Yes. Technically. When you think about it. I could’ve let them take my mother. Stayed mortal. Lived my life, died. At least this way, I had power. Endless power. And time. Immortality offers you a lot of time.’

She was quiet for a moment, and I thought for certain she would call me out on my lie. Although, I’d said it enough to myself it didn’t feel like a lie on my tongue any longer. Apparently, if you lie to yourself enough, it eventually becomes the truth. ‘If you let them take my soul, I’d be immortal, too.’

I opened my eyes, glaring at her. She already knew where this conversation was going to go. ‘Stella.’

‘Why did you sacrifice yourself for your mother?’