Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
My heart seemed to fist in my chest and I yearned to go to him—to prove, somehow that I didn’t hate him—that I could never hate him. But I couldn’t—I was too afraid that he might hate me as well.
“You could never disgust me, Avery,” I told him. “The way my Drake feels for you…” I trailed off, looking down at my own hands. “I thought you must hate and fear me,” I said softly. “After what happened in the gymnasium today and…after what Coach Vasquez said.”
“You mean when she said that your Drake had…” He cleared his throat. “Had killed people?”
“Yes,” I said shortly, still afraid to look at him.
“Well…did he?” Avery asked.
I nodded, my stomach clenching as I wondered how he would think of me when he knew the truth. But I had to tell him.
“He did,” I said. “It was because my father wanted someone to tame him—a female. He was determined to defy the curse the bruja had put on me and my Drake, even before I was born.”
“Why were you cursed?” There was no condemnation in Avery’s voice, just curiosity. I took heart at his tone and was able to look up as I answered.
I told him about how my father had killed one of his lieutenants and how the man’s l’lorna had been a bruja that dealt in black magic.
“She swore that my father’s sins would be visited upon his only son,” I told Avery. “She said that my Drake would be a Blood-Drake that no female could tame or control. But my father refused to listen. I think he thought he could break the curse if he only tried hard enough. And…he was angry that I showed no interest in girls.”
“You didn’t?” Avery arched one dark blond eyebrow at me. “I mean, who did you show interest in?”
I shrugged.
“No one, really. Girls have never interested me—probably because of the curse.”
“So you think you don’t like, er, girls because of the curse the witch put on you and your Drake?” Avery asked, frowning. “Did you ever have an interest in other guys?”
I frowned.
“I told you I’m not a man-lover. I did have a friend—his name was Diego. We spent every waking hour together. And then one day…” I stopped, unable for a moment to go on.
“One day what?” Avery prodded gently.
“One day I woke up in the morning and went to find him, only to hear from a neighbor that he and his family had been banished from the Western Province,” I said tightly. I was surprised how much it hurt to remember that. I hadn’t thought of Diego in years. But now the feeling of intense loss came over me once more and I found I had a lump in my throat.
“Banished by who?” Avery sounded like he already knew.
“By my father, of course,” I said bitterly. “I think he was afraid that because I only wanted to be with my friend and showed no interest in the girls he was always shoving at me, I might be a lover-of-men. He thought that by sending Diego away, he was removing any temptation I might feel to commit…unnatural acts.”
“When he really just took your only friend,” Avery said softly.
I nodded, looking down at my hands again.
“My Drake liked Diego, too. Not as much as he likes you,” I added honestly, glancing up at him. “But he liked him—and he likes almost no one. So he was already angry—so angry—when my father decreed that the daughters of all the nobles should be gathered for me to choose from.”
“Uh-oh,” Avery murmured. “I can’t imagine that ended very well.”
“It ended with three girls dead and two mortally wounded,” I said shortly. “I tried to hold my Drake back but I wasn’t strong enough. You can’t know what it was like, to watch as he killed and mangled them while I was unable to stop him.” I curled my hands into fists, squeezing tight as I forced the words out. “I tried…Dios, Avery, I tried so hard but he wouldn’t listen…”
I shook my head, feeling sick to my stomach. Even talking about that terrible day made me want to hide my face in shame. I had been too weak to stop him—too weak to save them…
“God, Saint…that’s terrible.” His voice was hoarse and I saw him shifting uncertainly on the bed.
“For a long time after that, I wanted to take my own life,” I told him in a low, toneless voice that barely seemed to be my own. “For why should I live when my Drake had killed so many?”
“Saint…” Avery shifted again. Leaning towards me, he got an earnest look in his blue eyes. “Look, please don’t take this the wrong way because there’s nothing, er, sexual about it. But if Emma or Kaitlyn or Megan was telling me something like this, I’d want to give them a hug. And I feel like…I mean, you look like you could use a hug yourself right now. So can I…?” He trailed off, looking at me with eyebrows raised in question.