Page 84 of Vengeance and Vipers

‘Are you all right?’ he asks.

I nod. ‘Tabitha said you were looking for me, but if you’re busy, I can come back—’

‘No, I’m never too busy for you,’ he murmurs. ‘What happened earlier?’

I shrug, and he lets out a sound of displeasure. ‘I won’t ask you about it then. No doubt my brother will sort it, but you mustn’t let anyone make you feel like that, lass.’

He caresses my cheek with the back of his knuckles, and I find myself sniffling.

‘What do you all see in me?’

Krase’s words and the ride on Pitch have gone a long way to making me feel better after Daemon, but the problem is that the bad stuff is always easier to believe. I’m afraid that everything Daemon said was true.

Jayce doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he sits on the bed and draws me close between his legs, taking hold of my hands.

‘Close your eyes and focus on me,’ he says.

I do it, feeling him, where he is, and listening to his slow breath.

Something warm floods into my chest, making me shiver a little. It’s like a flower opening in the sun, and inside is this feeling of happiness and contentment, how I feel when I’m with these demons.

‘That’s what I see in you,’ he breathes. ‘It’s how you make me feel, Bana-Phrionnsa. You and no other.’

His hands squeeze mine, and I grip them hard in return. There aren’t words for this, so I don’t even try; I just lean down and kiss his lips gently.

I feel his smile, and I let out a tiny laugh as I open my eyes. He takes out his phone.

‘What are you doing?’ I ask.

‘Just letting the Axel and Jayce know you’re here.’

‘I have something for you,’ he says suddenly, standing up.

He goes over to his studio door and opens it.

‘It’s not finished,’ he warns, ‘but close your eyes. No peeking.’

I raise a brow at him but do as he says with a humoring smile I can’t quite keep off my face. I hear him cross the room and then feel him behind me, covering my eyes with his hands.

‘I already have my eyes closed,’ I protest with a chuckle, but he just hushes me.

He walks me forward across his room. The smell of linseed oil and turpentine assails my nose.

‘This is where you paint.’ I whisper.

‘Yes,’ he replies. ‘No one’s allowed in here. No one but you.’

He lets me go. ‘Open your eyes, Jules.’

I do, and my eyes fall on the canvas in front of me. My breathing stutters and my eyes swim. ‘You—’ My voice breaks. ‘Youpaintedher? For me?’

I try to wipe my tears away and take in the painting before me of Siggy in her web. He captured her so well, that look in her eyes that I didn’t think anyone else could see but me, her bristly pedipalps that were a little brown along the edges when the rest of her was so pitch black. It’s like I’m looking at a photo of her.

‘I didn’t think you’d have a picture,’ he says quietly.

I turn to him and throw my arms around him with a sob. He looks surprised.

‘I thought my last vision of her would be her dead on the floor of Dante’s room,’ I bawl, wetting his bare chest with my tears. ‘But youpaintedher,’ I say again, not believing that anyone would do that for me.