Exile (Dance with my Demons #4)

by Steph Macca

"No, but she's his everything, Christopher. She's his reason to live, to fight. Just like she's mine. He has to be okay. There's no other option here."

"We both did the best we could. And that's okay. I'm okay."

Grey insisted she was a dark horse, capable of more than she let on, and he was right.

"Because saying yes meant protecting you, little killer. Saying yes means we have a chance at setting you free from this place. I'll stop at nothing, do anything, kill everybody to keep you safe."

"Come on, little killer. Time to go fuck shit up."

I admire that after everything she's been through, she's still able to beam as happily as she does.

There's nothing wrong with being seen as broken.

What gives them the right to fuck with me? To dangle freedom in front of my face in exchange for stabbing someone in the back? They are nothing but cowards in expensive attire, hiding behind a wall of muscle.

Because I'm the badass who stabbed that motherfucker with a pen.

"They don't deserve your tears—or your pain. Live… for you. Be their worst nightmare."

"À nous pour toujours jusqu'à ce que la mort nous sépare,"

"And all the lifetimes after."

"We'll kill anyone that touches you, mon petit feu."

I didn't survive all that before just to have everything taken away from me now."

Fuck—why can't I just take a compliment? All I ever wanted was to be told someone was proud of me, and the moment someone is, I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole.

"I know what it's like to feel guilt that's misplaced.

"I'm everything I was meant to be but was too scared to become.

Cirque des Morts isn't just a group of unhinged psychos. We're a fucking legacy.

Scars fade and bruises heal, but mentally? You can't escape that pain. It lingers long after the physical touches are gone.

Always trying to please everyone while fighting silent demons.

"You also wanted to save them like you feel they saved you, because you harbor some guilt about past things outside your control."

"Allez en enfer,"

"I want to get better too,"

"We all deserve to heal."

Abusers get away with too much.

"I'm your worst nightmare, pumpkin. Consider me the grim reaper, coming to collect."

Life's a bitch, pumpkin. And that bitch is Grey."

Our monsters don't deserve our pain. And they sure as fuck don't deserve our tears. The greatest revenge is living…