Page 114 of Vengeance and Vipers

I’m angry and upsetand tired, but the reality is that I expected Daemon to do something shitty. Like Maddox, he thinks the worst of me, and he must know how close I’m getting to the others. What he did hurts worse than the torture ever did right now, but this is Supeland, and I’m a product of it whether I want to be or not.

Even after everything that just happened, I’m alive, and that’s a win. I’m even a tiny bit relieved. Both Iron and Daemon saw every burn and cut that I’ve kept hidden for so long, but neither turned away in revulsion. I didn’t realize I was so afraid of what the clan would think if they ever saw me like that, but I was. I was terrified.

But they didn’t look disgusted … not by the scars themselves, at least, just the fact that I have them at all. And Iron didn’tfeelrepulsed.

In fact, what I’ve been experiencing from him since the stable is his guilt and remorse, his anger at the ones who did this, as well as at Daemon for his part in it.

Despite what happened, there’s no scar-shaming here, at least. After the past few awful minutes, I don’t know why that matters so much to me, but it does.

‘Thank you for fixing the conjure.’ I say. ‘You didn’t have to do that.’

He rubs his chest. ‘Yes, I did, Jules.’

‘Is it because of the link between us?’

I look at him and see him shake his head a little.

I sigh.

‘I’m sorry that we’re connected, but I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me,’ I murmur.

He glances over at me. ‘What do you mean?’

I roll my eyes. ‘I know you all think I’m doing it, that I have some nefarious plan, or that I’m luring you guys in somehow, but I’m just a human. What power could I have over you?You’rethe incubi.’ I huff. ‘Blame yourselves if you can’t control your magick.’

I shudder as I think about what Daemon did. How he subdued me in the barn; he knew what his touch would do to both of us. I could see it in his eyes when he took off the glove. But he was able to stay in control of himself while I was turned into a puddle of sexual need.

Not fair!

‘No,’ I say with certainty. ‘It can’t be me.’

He lets out a breath, eyeing me. ‘You’re not what I thought.’

I give him a small smile and wrap my jacket around me tighter, eyeing the pants on the rock next to me that I should really put on because I’m starting to get really cold.

I start to get up, but he turns towards me, putting a hand on mine to stop me. I tense up because I can feel what he wants to talk about.

‘We need to … I need to ask you about the symbols, Jules.’

I hide my flinch and look down at the water again.

‘What about them?’ I whisper.

‘They’re not … You said you didn’t know what they were.’

‘I don’t. They–’ I swallow hard and try again. ‘They never said what they were doing or why.’

‘So you were just tortured for no reason?’

I take a steadying breath. ‘Yeah.’

He looks apologetic. ‘How long did it go on for?’

I shake off his hand and stand up abruptly. I grab my pants and take a few steps away from him to put them on, trying to think about what to say because I’ve never spoken about it to anyone.

‘For a long time,’ I say over my shoulder. ‘I know there was a reason, but they never told me what it was.’

I wrap my arms around myself.