Page 75 of His Eternal Claim

His expression hardens. “You.”

The single word steals the air from my lungs. I stare at him in disbelief before another hollow laugh escapes me.

“Me?” I push myself to my feet. “That’s supposed to make this better?”

“No.”

“Then what?” I demand. “What exactly was your plan, Zagreus? Destroy my family? Burn them to the ground? Make me fall in love with you first so it would hurt more when you stabbed me in the back?”

His jaw clenches. “You think I wanted this outcome?”

“I don’t care what you wanted!” I scream.

Thunder cracks outside.

“My Father is dead!” I can’t breathe. “My Father is dead and you’re standing here talking about intentions.”

Pain flashes across his face. But I am too shattered to care. “You know what the worst part is?” My voice trembles. “Not that you lied to me. I don’t care that you used me…” A tear slides down my cheek. “The worst part is that I loved you. I defended you when everyone warned me against you. I trusted you when I should have run. I chose you over and over again.”

I wipe angrily at my tears. “And for what? You looked me in the eye every day knowing what you had done.”

His throat works. He doesn’t look like the man I knew. Not the man I loved. He walked away from me when he announced his marriage to Crystella. He lost me when he chose her over me, when he chose his revenge over us.

“You let me dream about a future that never existed.” I break, looking him in the eyes, the eyes I once wanted to drown in, not knowing they’d drown me so bad I’d never see the light again.

“That’s enough.”

“No.” I shake my head. “You don’t get to decide when I’ve said enough.”

For the first time, Zagreus takes a step forward until he’s standing only a few feet away. Rain pounds against the glass. The storm outside has finally caught up with the one inside.

“When I started this,” he says quietly, “revenge was all I wanted.”

My stomach twists.

“But somewhere along the way, you became the one thing I never expected.”

I close my eyes.

Because hearing those words now feels less like a confession and more like a curse.

“If that’s your version of love,” I whisper, tears falling freely down my face, “then I wish you had hated me from the start.”

“Stop, Dolcezza.”

“No.” I shake my head again. “You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore. And you don’t get to call me that. You lost the right when you decided to take everything from me.” My voice breaks. “You killed my Father, and my Mother is all I have left, and you left her to die there.”

The memory of my Father flashes through my mind. His smile. His laughter. The way he would kiss my forehead and tell me that no matter what happened, he would always protect me.

A fresh wave of grief crashes over me. Tears stream down my cheeks.

“You took the only person who loved me unconditionally.”

For the first time since I started destroying the room, Zagreus looks away. As though he cannot bear to meet my eyes. That only fuels my rage.

“Look at me!”

Slowly, painfully, he raises his gaze as if it costs him something. Or maybe he only pretends that well, and I never knew the real him.