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“A woman can do anything a man can do. More, actually.”
“I’m sorry you were only there because of me…”
He sighs, still not looking back at me. “I’d do it a thousand more times.” “Why?” Stupid question. But is it? After everything I’ve learned. Why would he put himself through all of this for me? “Because… I’d never let you burn alone.”
“After we kissed under the waterfall. I lied. I told you it didn’t mean anything to me.” My armor softens, and I lose my breath. “That was a lie, Skylenna.” He swallows, eyes glistening with tears. “That kiss was my whole world, honey.” His chest is moving rapidly as if he’s in the midst of battle already. And I can see that he needs to get this
out. He’s dying to tell me what’s in his heart. “Years ago, I promised you I’d take you under that waterfall when you were old enough and give you our first kiss. I’ve—I’ve waited so long to keep that promise.”
“Don’t let him go into the darkness alone. Don’t do that. You’re going to be strong for him today, okay?”
He’s right. Dessin and Kane would have never let me be buried alone. No question. And that makes me feel worse. Because I have to go, have to say goodbye, have to watch my life slip through my fingers and into the dirt.
“One day, you’d regret not be...
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“I didn’t get to bury my wife and daughter. I was taken to the asylum immediately, and to this day, I don...
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“You told me I was safe with you,” I mutter with a quivering bottom lip. “But I don’t feel safe anymore. You brought joy back into my life, and now… I feel so lost.”
“Before I let you go, I’m going to make one last promise.” I swallow down the growing lump in my throat, making it painful to speak. “I won’t ever love again. And I’ll never lose hope that I’ll see you again, either. Until hell freezes over.” And even then.
“Let’s get you home.”
“I don’t have a home anymore,”
“My home is about to be under six feet of dirt.”
“You’re right, Runa. This isn’t the face of the girl you first met. This is the face of a woman who has just lost… everything.”
“Who would have guessed that the three-year-old little girl with curly golden hair and squishy pink cheeks would have me wrapped around her little finger for the rest of my life?” He sighs, stroking her cheek with his tan fingers. His brow knits together in affliction or sorrow at the sight of her. “Dessin spent years in that asylum, being tortured endlessly, so much so that new alters had to split off just to endure each sadistic treatment. All for my sweet Skylenna.”
“And by the end of this, you’re going to be furious with me. You’re going to hate me for all of the secrets I had to keep.”
“But one day, you’ll be just like me. And in time, you’ll know why I had to keep those secrets.”
“It was all for you. So, please forgive me.”
“I’m going to marry her one day, Momma.”
Sophia’s soft eyes lighten, and she begins to smile. “Is that so?” Kane nods once. “Yep. I’ll protect her and take good care of her until we’re all grown up. Then I’m going to marry her in the Red Oaks. And you and her daddy will be there too. And and and… we’ll have babies! And they’ll be twins
t...
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“Skylenna is my soul mate.”
women are dragons kept in chains, convinced that they are helpless little birds. But that’s a lie, dashna. It’s time someone told ya that ya can breathe fire.”
“That’s right. If you can’t survive without the sun, then we’ll build a fire.”
Dessin was able to protect himself with alters that could withstand different forms of pain. My mind is able to walk away and go someplace else.
This fire is the end. It’s releasing the pain of those who have suffered, those who have lost their lives in these walls, those who were treated like wild animals. And any conformist or council member still alive will perish by fire.
When we’re together, nothing can touch us. Where one lacks, the other makes up.
“I have waited half my life to hear you say that,” I breathe out, trapping her face between my hands. “I love you, Skylittle. I’ve loved you every moment since I pulled you from that basement. I’ve loved you as a child, a teenager—but as an adult, I am deeply, madly, agonizingly in love with you.”
