Page 31 of Azure Mania

“It’s a castle, Ophi. There’s plenty of space.”

“It’s not the space that’s the problem, and you know it. It’ll be a blood bath before the first dinner together ends.”

“Yvonne can handle herself.”

“Yvonne put you to sleep for two hundred years,” Ophelia says. “It’s not her I’m worried about. I don’t want my home to turn into a war zone.”

“It won’t,” I blurt. “It’s my home, too. I want to live here with the woman I love.”

Ophelia falls silent. She’s staring at me, trying to gauge if I have a hidden motive, or not. She sips on the blood, then puts the glass on the table in front of her, clasping her hands in front of her.

“Alright. You’re right. It is your home. But don’t think this is going to be easy.”

“You hate her, too, don’t you?”

“No, she’s irrelevant to me,” Ophelia chuckles. “But she better not get on my bad side.”

I know the threat when I hear one. I nod, then walk out. I knew she was going to agree eventually because despite her cold demeanor, Ophelia cares about me too much to see me suffer.

I make my way up to the quarters; Yvonne’s scent immediately fills my nose. She’s sitting on my bed, reading a book that she pulled off the shelf, completely immersed in the material. She bites the inside of her cheek, her eyes narrowing a fraction.

“She said yes,” I announce my arrival, and Yvonne jumps a little.

The book drops from her hands and a wide, beaming grin forms on her face. She runs to me, her arms wrapping around my neck.

This is why I’ll continue to be someone she can rely on, someone she can depend on. If anything, just to see this woman’s smile, to warm the heart that I no longer have…

Well…

I thought I didn’t have it.

But as her hands are wrapped around my neck, her smile wide and honest, my heart actually skips a beat.

For the first time since I became this monster, my heart started beating again.

And now, it beats only for her.