Page 78 of Potion of Deception (Potion of Deception #1)
DECEIVED
V iolette opened her eyes. Sunlight streamed into the room through a gap in the curtains.
She was under a heavy blanket in a comfy bed when the fog in her head started to clear.
She was at the cemetery and then…What was then?
She remembered how she cried and the two fangs that flashed before her eyes.
Then she felt like vitality left her but she didn't die, however it felt like she was about to.
The blurry image of Dante appeared in her mind; he was there, he found her in the snow after Nigel sucked her blood and left her to freeze.
He might be the one who had taken her to wherever she was.
The exhaustion was still deep-seated under her skin, calling her to a sweet oblivion like she was only half alive.
She felt so tiny and the world was so big.
And…she felt alone . Furthermore, she couldn't tell if this hole in her heart was because of what Nigel had done or because of what Dante said…
She herself hoisted from the bed. A headache forced her eyes to squint shut for a second, her temples pulsating with pain.
She tried to replay in her head everything that happened and as far as she was going into it – the more it hurt; every flash, every word.
And then she felt a grudge. A torment. Like someone was squeezing her head so tight and she knew exactly who that someone was.
What he said. What he did. She remembered the pain he caused.
How he used her and treated her. Tears once again flickered at the corners of her eyes.
But stronger than her pain was her anger.
She didn't deserve any of this. And if he was that cruel, why would he come for her?
She jumped out of her bed in a second, feeling indignant, rage pulsating in her veins. She swayed. She had to find him. And as she held this thought in her mind, the door opened.
Dante stood at the threshold. Their eyes collided. His jaw drew tight. Silence fell between them. The growing storm in Violette's eyes was ready to meet the shadows in his. She pressed her lips tight, fighting tears back.
“You got up,” he said. Cold.
Everything she wanted to tell him stuck in her throat. She couldn't swallow it, nor let out.
“Why did you bring me here?” she finally managed to say, her gaze not leaving his face, not once. She almost didn't blink.
He looked away. “Better to leave you in the snow, freezing to death?”
“That's not an answer,” she nearly growled, her hand clenching in a fist.
“It definitely is. I just don't tell you what you want to hear anymore,” he said bluntly.
Ouch. She felt a pang.
“So that's what you were doing all this time? Just feeding me with something I wanted to hear?” The tears shone in her eyes but her voice rose.
He eyed her again. His gaze had never been so raw. Like he despised her, when only she had a reason to do so.
“I think I've already told you all of that.” He straightened up his back – his eyes had never been so bleak, not even when they’d met for the first time. “I promised to bring you home, you’ll depart at sunset. The carriage will be waiting outside.” With those words he turned back and walked away.
Violette froze. Each of his words felt like a stone.
She couldn't believe what she just heard.
This was how it was going to end? Him just walking away?
No goodbye? A flash of their memories and moments they spent together flew before her eyes.
So that's what it was – just a vague insignificant occurrence?
Nothing to remember, nothing to forget because all of it was just an illusion. A lie .
The anxiety hovered over her. The air sliced her throat with each inhale.
The tears ran down her cheeks, she couldn't hold them in anymore.
She didn't want to cry. She thought she could swallow this truth, she thought she would feel only anger but it was too painful.
She roughly wiped her cheeks and ran out of the room in an urge to get one answer before it all ended.
She intercepted him right before he disappeared behind the other door.
“I just want to know one thing.” Her face distorted in animosity. “Why?”
His gaze fixated on the doorknob before he turned his head in her direction. His eyes flickered out of the corners at her.
“Should there be a reason? Aren’t I just a terrible evil being?”
Violette’s chest tightened.
Dante took a step into his room but she stormed in right after him.
“You push me away but then go after me to keep the promise, like you are a damned gentleman. I don't understand you. Why make it so complicated? Why make me go away if you don't care? Why save me if you don't care?”
Dante stood by the window, facing her with his back.
He didn't dare or didn't care to turn to her – to look into her eyes.
She didn't expect him to be that cruel. Last night, when she said she believed he had a kind heart, she never thought she’d be so wrong.
Her biggest mistake so far. She was indeed naive, believing in him, believing there could be something more behind this fortress.
“I have no obligation to explain myself to you,” Dante stated and looked to the side, but never at her. That was what she remembered last, him by the window, silhouetted by the dim sunlight penetrating through thick curtains.
Her stubbornness finally gave up. It was time to let go. She didn't say goodbye, she didn't say anything and she didn't cry anymore. Why should she cry about something that was never real?