Page 87 of Winter Unleashed
“I think I’m in love with you,” he repeated, then scrunched up his face.
“What are you talking about? You don’t even know me.” I shook my head and rose from my seat to pace the room.
He grabbed my hand when I passed in front of him. “I’ve watched you since you were a child. I watched you grow up. You’ve always been a fierce fighter, but you’re also a very thoughtful person.”
“You’ve told me that before. That you watch me. It’s creepy to spy on people. You know that, right?” I tried pulling my hand from his, but he held me in place.
“I didn’t do it to be a creep. I knew Astrid created you to be the Vinura. Remember, I used to be a fairy, so I know all about the Vinura and how she comes to be.” He let me go, but I stayed where I was. “I loved being a fairy. Maybe a little too much.” He looked up at me with a frown. “I made mistakes. A lot of them. When Artemis severed my magic, I got worse. I acted out. Then you were born.”
“Why me?” I asked. “There were other Vinuras. What’s so special about me?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I really don’t. The day you were born, I came to see you, out of sheer curiosity. And when I laid my eyes on your tiny face, I was lost. I started checking in on you throughout your life and my admiration for you grew stronger. When I saw how your father treated you, I almost killed him a few times, but Artemis stopped me. Then he took care of that himself.”
A gasp escaped me. “You tried to kill my dad… Brent?”
“Occasionally. After he’d been particularly brutal toward you,” he said. “Like the time with the tire iron.”
I cringed as that day flittered through my mind. “Yeah, that may have been the worst one. Broke both my cheek bones, collar bone, and gave me a mean concussion.” My stomach turned when I remembered seeing my face in the mirror. If I’d been human, I’d have been dead.
“He got a taste of his own medicine,” Belial said with a devilish grin. “Eye for an eye and all that.”
“You beat him with a tire iron?” I shook my head and waved my hands before he could answer. “No. I don’t want to know. I don’t think about that stuff. It’s in the past. There’s nothing I can do to change it, so it doesn’t help anything for me to harp on it. I’ve worked very hard to live my life to never make anyone feel the way he made me feel. I don’t want that shit to define who I am. What he did to me doesn’t own my life, I do.”
“But it does define you,” he said. “In a good way. You’re who you are today because of what happened. And that’s not a bad thing. You’re an amazing person.”
“Why would Artemis stop you from killing him?” I asked to change the subject, get it off me. “The Fae never interfere in our shit, butthatshe gets involved with?”
“You had to prov—”
“Prove myself. Yeah, I know.” I sighed and ran my hands through my hair.
“That hair. It’s the most beautiful color,” he breathed.
I narrowed my eyes. “It’s the same as Astrid’s.”
He smiled. “I know.”
We stared at each other for a long moment. I wasn’t sure what else to say. I didn’t believe he was really in love with me, but he seemed to think he was.
“Tell me more,” I said. “Tell me why you think you love me.”
“I can’t explain it. When I look at you, I feel things I’ve never felt for anyone else. I’ve been alive for millions of years and have never felt what I feel for you.”
“Hmmph. You gotta give me something here, man. What did I do to first make you feel this way?”
“It’s nothing you did. In the beginning, before you learned to defend yourself, I felt protective over you. No one had ever brought out those feelings in me. I may have hurt some of the shifters who had hurt you.”
“May have?”
“Ah, you caught me. Yes, I hurt the ones who hurt you the worst.” He shook his head. “I can feel your disapproval. That’s part of your allure. No matter how much they hurt you, you wouldn’t have wanted me to do what I did.”
“That’s true.” I nibbled my lip. “To me, revenge is like fine wine. A little is delightful, but if you have too much, it leaves you feeling shitty.”
“See, the shit you’ve gone through has made you wise beyond your years. It also made you humble. You’re strong, beautiful, but not perfect, and you’re okay with that. Astrid created you, but you made yourself into who you are.” He paused and shifted in his seat. “I didn’t just hurt people for you. I also made sure your editor was taken care of while you were dealing with Cybil and Celeste.”
“What? That was you?” He nodded and I sighed. What’s done was done. It wasn’t like I could ask Patricia for the money back. “Thank you for all of that. I can see you did what you thought was best. I’d also like to pay you back for the money you sent to Patty.”
“Absolutely not.” His expression hardened along with his voice.