"I still wonder about it," I said.
His brow furrowed, eyes searching my expression. "Wonder about what?"
"Whether you're the villain in my story."
~~~~~~~
Mara Monroe is at the center of a war she wanted no part in.
But with her new throne she fac...
//MATURE THEMES AHEAD//not the whole chapter, but you've been warned ;) __________________
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A large, four-poster bed with a decadent red duvet sat in the middle of the small room. Apparently, Maeve did not spare any expense when decorating the not-prisoner room. Cedric sat on the edge of it, bouncing a little, before looking up at me.
"How about we agree no more noble sacrifices or anything similarly stupid from now on, yeah?"
I glared at him. "You were captured! What was I supposed to do?"
"Literally anything else beside also getting captured would have been good."
My cheeks flared red in anger at his irritation and smugness, as though he knew something like this was going to happen. And maybe he was right. Maybe Freya and Andras were right too.
Cenred only needed one of us, because the other was bound to come charging after.
"Maybe you shouldn't get captured in the first place and we wouldn't have to worry about all this."
"I had it handled," he said indignantly and getting to his feet.
"Oh yeah? Getting hit unconscious and being tied up is having it handled?"
"I... I was working up to it."
"The only reason we're not being killed and eaten alive right now is because of me!"
He rolled his eyes. "Because your father helped save a vampire! You want to take credit for that?"
I swallowed past the thickness in my throat. I could take credit for that. It was my fault we stayed longer in West Acres because I got injured. If I hadn't, my father would never have died. Cedric's expression morphed from irritation into something else as he read my thoughts on my face, or heard them in my head for all I knew.
"No, that was not my intention," his voice was soft as he took a step forward to put his hands on my arms, but I stepped back.
"I hope the others are alright," I coughed a little, changing the subject as quickly as possible.
"They're fine," he grunted, "they're probably on their way to meet Lou in West Acres."
Confusion crossed my expression. "Why?"
Cedric threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.
"Because that was the plan. Did you listen to a word we spoke about before we saw the Horde?" I didn't answer and he took my silence as one. "Of course not! Because you don't listen! You don't care if something is going to keep you safe! No. Instead you go head first into a cavern filled with vampires like it's any other fucking Tuesday!"
"It's Wednesday—"
"Are you kidding me, Mara?! You could have died!"
I drew in a sharp breath, both of us seemed to struggle for oxygen. The air was freezing, but that had nothing to do with our lack of air.
