Page 7

I brought my sharp gaze to Fletcher, staring dead into his deep brown eyes for the first time in months as I asked, “Did you fuck all of them?” As the words left my mouth, I hadn’t yet taken in the full scope of his features.

But what I saw involuntarily broke a piece of my heart.

His olive skin was dull and pale. Deep gray encircled his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in years.

Red veins spidered through the whites of his eyes while tears glittered over them.

There was tension in his jaw, and he had let his scruff grow a bit thicker.

His dark, wavy hair was over his forehead in shambles as if he hadn’t bothered to comb or wash it.

His shoulders were slack, and his diamond-shaped face was tilted down in a bow of respect, a significant zigzag scar dug over his left temple and still red in healing, marring his once handsome face.

“No, Ripley,” he said, enunciating every syllable. “I did not fuck any of them. I did not kiss any of them. And I certainly did not touch any of them. I merely lied to them. If anyone in the cages told you differently, they were lying. Most likely as a way to rightfully get back at me.”

I narrowed my eyes, realizing Quinn hadn’t actually said he and that girl had been intimate. It didn’t matter though. She ended up fucked anyway. “Liar! You broke their hearts! You touched every part of them that was meaningful. And for what? To make it easier to imprison them?”

His voice rose to match mine. “I had to earn the Cidris’s respect!

I had to keep a close eye on the operation in case someone else found you !

I had to be in their good graces so I could find you!

And I have not fucked any of them,” he repeated slow and steady as if he didn’t believe that I had heard him the first time.

“You will forever regret what you’ve done to me,” I grated out to match the intensity in his tone.

He lowered his voice as it caught in his throat. “Then let me make it up to you.”

I let out a guttural rawness that I’d held inside for two months—a vicious type of scream that I’d been saving just for Fletcher. “You got Cuddles killed! My baby! He’s dead because of you! He trusted you! I trusted you with him! And you didn’t protect him!”

His head hung low as tears fell over his cheeks.

“I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved him.

It happened before I even realized it. I didn’t really understand until I saw your face—heard your scream.

And I hear it every second of every day.

” He huffed and took a hard swallow. “It haunts me how I let you down in the absolute worst way. I watched a part of you die right in front of me.” He sniffed, and his lashes gathered with more tears as he scrubbed them away with his palm.

“I can still hear you begging me to hold him.” It was then that he brought his gaze to mine.

“And I did, Ripley. As soon as I could get away from the Cidris, I held him for you. For hours. I told him how much you loved him and how much you’d miss him.

I thanked him for keeping you safe and for being the best companion you could have possibly asked for. ”

His admission soothed my aching heart. My body relaxed at his confession and my mind eased. Cuddles had been held. My baby knew how much I loved him. Fletcher had done that for me…

“I buried him with flowers.”

My tears poured out in two thankful waterfalls.

“And if you don’t believe me, I can take you to him. To say goodbye.”

I screwed my eyes shut. The tears kept tumbling out as my heart sewed together at the image of Cuddles licking my face like he was telling me he was okay from the beyond.

Fletcher’s hand glided across the bed, resting on my ankle like he was testing the waters .

It was warm and comforting. Just as I remembered. And just as I expected, my heart clung back to Fletcher. I allowed him to touch me and my heart sang with the contact.

“Look, Ripley, I’m so sorry I hurt you. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to protect you,” he admitted with a crack in his voice and a hard swallow.

“I’m so sorry you even had to see that place.

” He brought himself closer, scootching his whole body a few inches nearer.

The air between us buzzed with tension, and it choked me with both love and animosity.

“I hated every time I pushed that button. I hated seeing you suffer. I hated that you were left naked for everyone to see. It killed me to feel your soul deteriorate a little more every day.” His hand reached out cautiously as he cupped my soaked cheek, and I couldn’t help but press into his palm as a thank you for burying Cuddles.

The feeling of his touch brought forth the flood of raw emotions I’d been denying myself of.

“Ripley, I had to pretend . If they found out I wasn’t loyal to them, they’d have killed me and tortured you.

Please. You have to believe me.” He licked his lips, sighed, and tensed his jaw.

When his eyes riveted on mine, I succumbed to his intense and familiar gaze. “I love you. ”

“Don’t say that to me,” I whispered, not yet ready to hear it.

“I love you,” he whispered again, stroking my cheek with his thumb.

“Don’t say that.”

“I love you, Ripley.”

I shook my head, tears pouring down my cheeks and off my jaw. “Don’t.”

He came even closer, hip touching my feet.

“I love you, Ripley. And no one else. Ever.” His other hand flattened over my heart.

“This is real. Do not abandon what you felt for me. I beg you. You have my magic. You have my heart. You have me. And you need to know that you have meant everything to me since I was nine years old.”

“Don’t,” I whispered so low I wasn’t sure if he heard me.

“You can keep my magic. You can keep hating me.” He waved a hand over my wrists, aqua curls swimming down his forearms and into his fingertips.

My magic. He had my blood in him right now.

And he used it to unshackle me. Both golden cuffs broke in half and fell off my bruised wrists.

The handcuff Aldris had put on me clicked open.

“And now you can rip out my heart with your teeth if you want.” He released my cheek and took one of my injured wrists in both of his hands.

He brought it to his mouth and kissed it gently.

I watched more of my blue magic gracing his hands as he took a deep breath and transferred my pain to his own wrists.

“But I do love you. I’ve loved you since I ran with you through the ocaberry field.

” He kissed my other wrist, intense pain becoming his own as he healed my skin.

“I’ve loved you since I felt you in my blood the day of the ritual.

And I even think I loved you before that. ”

I looked at the wounds marking his wrists that once were mine, uncertain about what ritual he was referring to. “You hurt me.”

“I hurt you,” he echoed with a nod, kissing up my arm as he took away the aggressive holes in my body from being farmed.

They reappeared over his own skin, then he used my magic to reorganize all the injuries under his shirt so they weren’t visible, so I didn’t have to look at them.

“And I’m prepared to spend forever making it up to you.

” He brought his forehead to mine, his sweet breath touching my mouth.

“Please, give me a chance to make it up to you.” With slight pressure, he was able to tilt my head back so that his lips brushed across mine. “I can’t lose you. ”

I watched stars recoil along Fletcher’s forearms from using my magic before I called forth my own.

I shoved him away until he was no longer touching me and whispered, “Stay away from me.” I directed my magic to tear me into shattered pieces and carry me away with the wind to the only person who had ever been honest with me.

My mother.