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When Jacks kissed her it always felt a little like he worshipped her.
‘Tell me what you want, Donatella. Say it and I’ll give it to you.’ His mouth stilled on her collarbone.
‘You know, I wondered if you were Legend during Caraval, and then again when I saw you in her dream. But then you died.’
She’d never meant to trust him, but he’d been there when her mother had died, he’d cared for her when Legend hadn’t.
She waited for a rendering of Legend to materialize next, but all that showed up was a tiny star at her feet. She was where Legend wanted to be. ‘Don’t look so surprised.’
Was it possible that Legend was actually falling in love with her?
‘When I met a girl who loved her sister so much she was able to wish her back to life. You might possess magic, but love like that is real power.’ ‘And yet all the love in the world wouldn’t have brought Tella back without my magic.’ ‘She never would have died without your magic, either.’ Julian’s smile disappeared. ‘Tella would have found another way. She didn’t and doesn’t need you to save her. She needs to save you.’
If her heart had not been so heavy with grief and pain, Donatella would have known better than to trust the Prince of Hearts. If she’d not been burning with despair, she would have realized the danger in repeating magical words as her blood mingled with his. If she’d not just watched her mother die, she would have known that the Prince of Hearts was not taking her grief away because he cared. The Prince of Hearts did not know how to care. He only knew how to take what he wanted, and he wanted Donatella Dragna. But poor Donatella was too grief-stricken to see it. When he told her to speak, she
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This was an immortal bond that would tie her soul to Jacks’s forever.
‘Everyone out!’ Tella shouted.
‘Hello, wife.’
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’d introduce you to my bride, but I think I’d rather kick you out so we can chat in private.’
‘You foul, heartless, wretched, cheating, manipulating, apple-sucking demon!’
‘You tricked me into marrying you!’ ‘You begged me to help you.’ ‘I wanted you to take my emotions away, not make me your wife.’ ‘But I’ve been a good husband. I told you how to find the Vanished Market, I gave you that Fated map.’
‘I want you to undo it,’ she demanded. ‘I want the marriage revoked, and then I never want to see you again.’ ‘Why would I agree to that?’ he droned. ‘There’s nothing really in this solution for me.’ ‘You want to be married to someone that hates you?’ ‘Maybe I like the intensity of it.’
‘If you don’t undo this, I swear I will kill you.’
‘If I remain your wife, I promise that I will make you fall in love with me. I will become everything you’ve ever wanted, and the moment you are mortal, I’ll stab the closest sharp object through your chest and end your heartbeat once and for all.’
When they first met, his heart hadn’t beat at all. Then it started again – because of her.
‘Why are you hesitating, my love?’ ‘Why are you making this so easy?’ ‘You think this is easy for me?’
He smelled like liquor and heartache, and when he spoke, his words were almost too soft to hear. ‘You think it’s in my nature to be kind?’
‘There’s nothing kind about what you did to me.’ ‘You’re right,’ he whispered. ‘What I did was purely selfish. So stab me before I decide to be selfish again. The longer we’re bound together, the more difficult it will be for you to fight it. You might hate me, but you’ll find yourself wanting and needing to be near me. So if you really wish to end this, do it now. Cut me and sever everything that ties us together.’
She was supposed to be his true love. She was the one who made his heart beat again – which meant she was also his greatest weakness.
‘I don’t know if you’re my true love, Donatella. All I know is that I want you to be.’
‘I know what I did was wrong. But if you’re looking for a sad story where I justify what I’ve done, you’re not going to find it. I’m the villain, even in my own story. But you were supposed to play a different role.’ Misery filled his eyes. ‘You were supposed to be my true love. You were supposed to want me, not him. You were supposed to be as obsessed with me as I am with you.’
‘If
you’re holding back from ending this because you think I’ll kill you or hurt you once our connection is severed, that thought could not be further from the truth. When I told Legend I’d kill you if he didn’t give me the power I needed, I didn’t mean it – I wouldn’t have done it. A part of me even hoped he’d say no, so that you would walk away from him and choose me. I’m selfish, and I want you, but I would never harm you.’ ‘You already have,’ Tella said. And then she slashed his chest with the dagger.
For the rest of her life, whenever she thought about heartbreak, she would see the way he looked at her.
‘I’m not sure which part of this you’re talking about. But I came to you. I don’t feel anything except how much I want to be with you. I gave you my heart when you kissed me at the fountain, and I’ve never taken it back. I love you, Legend.’
Legend met her gaze, the dark crescents beneath his eyes back. It only lasted for a second, but for that moment, he looked more human.
Julian answered without hesitation, ‘She’s the love of my life.’ Scarlett’s heart broke and burst all at once.
She looked the way Love might have looked if Love looked in a mirror, infectiously happy and radiantly beautiful.
Then the Fallen Star died. And Scarlett cried. She cried for the horrors he had been, and she cried for the wonders that he could have been instead.
‘I’m sorry I left you that night. I shouldn’t have left, I shouldn’t have hurt you. And I shouldn’t have got scared and run away when I realized that I was falling in love with you.’
‘I can’t say that I understand love, or that I’m very good at it, because I’ve never loved anyone before. But I love everything about you, Donatella Dragna. Everything.’
‘I love the secrets you haven’t told me, and the lies you’ve tried to get away with. I love your stubbornness and your persistence. I love the way you always pretend not to care when I visit you in dreams. I love that you never stop fighting for what you want or the people you love, even when they don’t deserve it. I love you, I don’t intend to stop loving you, and I hope that somewhere deep inside, you still love me, too.’
‘This is my choice, and I choose you, Donatella. I don’t need immortality. You’re my forever.’
‘Gloves were once a symbolic gift.’ ‘Yes,’ she blurted. His brows danced up. ‘I haven’t even asked.’ ‘Whatever you ask, the answer is yes.’ She threw her arms around his neck.
Legend did not believe in endings. For most of his immortal life, he believed his world would come crashing down if he fell in love and became human. Instead, his world had become more precious, particularly the pieces involving her. He stifled a laugh as he read her letter again. Tella wouldn’t like it if she knew he was laughing, but she was one of the rare things he found funny. It was one of the many reasons he loved her.
