Page 159 of Dark Souls

“He trusted me. He doesn’t trust anyone. But he trusts me.”

Her eyes darted between mine as pity took root and she gave me a small smile. I shook her off, turning towards the balcony doors of my bedroom at the palace. They didn’t get it. They didn’t understand how deep our connection ran. He was in my blood. He was beneath my skin. My heart beat in sync with his. Our souls were so entangled that I no longer knew myself without him. There was no way Luka would have ruined all of that, all the trust between us, just because he’d found Ronnie in my flat. There was no way. Even without his humanity, he would have listened to me. There was something else. There had to be.

My hands tangled in my hair and tugged painfully as I growled in frustration. Was I making excuses for him? Still trying to search for the good, look for the hidden meaning behind his cruel actions when there were none? He knew this would break us. He knew this would force my family to turn against him. Yet, he still did it. He looked into my eyes and mercilessly killed someone I cared about. Why?

“How’s she doing?” I heard my grandpapi ask as he entered the room behind me. I closed my eyes.

“Still processing,” my mum whispered, though I wondered why she bothered. I could hear every word. My ears worked fine. It was my heart that was broken. “We should talk about the blood oath. I am guessing it’s starting to take effect.”

I spun around when I heard those words, my eyes wide with alarm. “What about the blood oath?”

Everyone stared at me and I hated the sympathy that plagued their expressions. The way they were looking at me was as if I was about to break. Like I was too fragile to handle the truth. But their truth wasn’t mine.

Mum took a step forward, holding my shoulders and forcing me to take a seat on the edge of the bed between my brothers. She crouched down and held my hands in my lap as I frowned.

“Luka and Grandpapi exchanged blood in an oath to ensure no harm ever came to you and if it did, Grandpapi would be bound by fate to kill him. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself, Ilaria. A blood oath between vampires can never be broken, only by death.”

“I know. I was there.” I glanced up at Grandpapi, who was standing behind her, his careful eyes studying my face as I frowned. “But he didn’t harm me. I’m not harmed!”

“Physically, no. But emotionally,” Mum answered, squeezing my hands. I stood up abruptly and stormed towards Grandpapi. He grabbed my shoulders to halt me and, before I could open my mouth to protest, he beat me to it.

“Interestingly, the blood oath isn’t taking effect. Don’t get me wrong, I want to rip his head off for breaking your heart like this, but that’s my protective grandparent instinct, not the oath. The oath was that he promised to keep you safe. That he promised no harm would come to you. Killing Ronnie, even though it hurt you to do it, doesn’t seem to have triggered the oath.”

I stepped back, my mind racing. Without knowing it, Grandpapi had just awoken a powerful surge of understanding deep within the depths of my soul that fate had preserved for the one person meant for me in this life. The realisation vibrated through every nerve of my body, through every vein and vessel of my heart, keeping it pumping with the knowledge that Luka loved me. There was no doubt in my mind.

“He was keeping me safe.” The words were soundless as they left my lips but when I met my grandpapi’s blue and brown eyes, I repeated them louder. “He was keeping me safe. He did the only thing he knew would push me away to keep me safe.”

“Ilaria, he killed Ronnie. He’s disappeared. I don’t think–”

“No.” I shook my head and started up my pacing again, but this time because I couldn’t physically keep still. The adrenaline was rampaging through me and causing my mind to spin with a million thoughts. But one was certain. He did this to protect me. Which meant…

“He knows.”

“Who knows?” Mum asked.

“She’s lost it,” Leif muttered from the bed. “She has that crazy look in her eyes.”

“The Devil.” I paused and stared at them all. “The Devil knows about me. He must have found my belongings at the manor because he arrived unannounced. He confronted Luka. He must know. Luka killed Ronnie because he knew it would push me away. He knew you would all hate him for it and never accept him. He must have told The Devil that he’d make me hate him. To never want to see him again. He did it to protect me, don’t you see?”

My family looked unsure. Their gazes darted between each other like ping-pong balls, back and forth, exchanging silent doubt. They clearly thought I was crazy. Still in denial. But I had never been so sure about anything in my life.

“I’m going to find him,” I said, attempting to storm from the room.

“Wait!” My dad grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “If what you’re saying is true, then you can’t go looking for him, Ilaria. That will only put him and you at more risk. If he truly has done this to try to protect you, then we need to act like it worked for your own safety. Until we figure out who this Devil is, we can’t jeopardise Luka’s plan.”

“So you believe me?” I asked, my bloodshot eyes brimming with unshed tears and I held his gaze. He smiled sadly and stroked his huge hand down the side of my face.

“I know that a man in love would do anything to keep his soulmate safe. And I do believe he loves you. How could he not?”

I fell forward in relief and wrapped my arms around my dad’s waist, no longer feeling alone in this. I wasn’t crazy. Luka wasn’t an unhinged, ruthless monster.

Grandpapi’s phone started ringing in his pocket and he answered it with a frown.

“Raiden?”

As my uncle spoke to him, his face morphed into a look of complete shock and his eyes found mine across the room. “Hang on.” He quickly pulled the phone away from his ear and put Raiden on loudspeaker for the rest of us to hear. “Say that again.”

“Ronnie is alive.”