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Within these walls, I’m content. But contentment isn’t the same as freedom.
“I’m going to erase you, Mr. Blackwood,” she says, voice strained by the puckering of her lips, courtesy of her still-squished cheeks. “I’ll never dream of you again after that, and I hate that it makes me sad. Thank you for being my dance partner. Now that I get to dance with real fellows, I wonder if you’ll still be the handsomest man I’ve met.”
“Yes, but I let you cut me then,” I say, scanning her figure for any sign of the weapon in question. Her hands remain curled at her sides, empty of any such knife. I lift my eyes to hers again. “I’ll do you the honor of wounding me, but I won’t allow you to strike a killing blow.” “You won’t have a choice.” “How so?” “Because you can’t move.” I take a step to the side, proving otherwise. My lips curl at the corners, but hers do as well, sending a spear of doubt through me. She’s far more confident than she should be. She’s almost giddy with it. A thought blares in the back of my mind, but it
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“It was a nice sound,” he says, back facing me. I blink a few times. “What was?” “Your laughter.” He glances at me over his shoulder. The light from the windows catches on his lenses and obscures his eyes. “I hope after all of this is done, you can do that more.”
“I care because you deserve to be cared about, exactly as you are. You don’t have to earn that. You just have it. My care is yours.”
You deserve to be cared about. You, my enemy. You, my friend. You, the girl who haunted my dreams. You are worthy as you are in every form.”
“You’re safe, Briony.” “How do you know?” “Because,” he says, “I will never let you go.”
“And…and you’ll have me. Whether it’s a stolen dance at a ball, a masquerade where we can evade our families’ disapproval, or tucked safely away in a dreamscape. I’ll always dance with you.”
It secretly states that I love her. That I’ve deeply and completely fallen for the girl that should be my nemesis. That even though I’ll never ask her to choose me, I’ll choose her. I’ll choose her over revenge, over the feud that threatens to break us, over the name I was born with, over the family I’m supposed to be loyal to. I’ll choose her. And I’ll do anything it takes—sacrifice everything, even my own heart—to ensure she gets the happiness she desires.
“But let me say it once to you. I love you. I have ever since you were nothing but a dream. And I continued to love you when you were revealed to be my enemy. I loved you when you annoyed me. I loved you because you annoyed me. Briony, I love you with every inch of my soul, and I want you to keep that somewhere deep inside. I want your heart to remember that you were loved. That you deserve love still. But everything else, I want you to forget.”
