The Last Theiro

27

Tessa
•••

"I didn't lie to you, Eden. I would never lie to you." I brushed away my tears and glanced up at him confidently, tugging on the hem of my top and balling them inside the wet material.

He stared at me coldly, his arms folded over his chest. "Don't cry now, Tessa. How dare you cry after what you did?"

I leaned in closer to him. "How could you believe those lies? How could you believe them?" My voice cracked but I didn't dare break the confidence spurring in me. "I didn't do anything wrong! They are the ones who lied to you! They deceived you and now you've turned on me!"

Eden gripped my shoulders and pinned me against the wall in one swift movement. He lifted up a bloody dagger that I was sure he used to try to kill me. "I hate you, Tessa. I hate you," he whispered, his voice an octave lower.

I held a steady gaze with him, my face a mirror of his own stealth and coldness. "Your hatred of me is nothing but a transformation of your shame and insecurities... it is all you hate about yourself yet lack the courage to face. It is far easier to lose yourself in the theatrics of your mind, casting yourself as a victim, than it is to swallow even an ounce of truth. All you do is beat me down, a person who's already had more than their soul can take several times over. I ask you to find your own way out of your hatred, to see me for who I really am under the ever-changing illusions conjured by your own mind."

Eden blinked at me in silence. "I will end you, Tessa."

The dagger set precariously on my skin, soft enough to not pierce my neck, hard enough to force the intended message. The harsh metal should have been cold and raw against my bare skin but my numb body could not feel anything except for the excruciating pain of his betrayal.

My throat and heart held in a silver grasp and all I could do was stare into the lifeless crimson eyes of the person I once called my best friend.

Eden was a different person. Hell, he wasn't even a person. He was this...this beast. This monster.

I once thought that, in the end, it would only be him and I. That we would always have each other's backs and never give up on each other.

Yet there he was, holding the blade and a terrifying coldness I had never seen before. I had always thought his eyes were golden, but looking at them now I could see no trace of the vibrancy they once had, no trace of the boy I once knew.

All I could see was this cold statue who tried to kill me...HE TRIED TO KILL ME!

How does that even happen? How does someone go from being the person you once loved so dearly to the person who tried to end your life by stabbing you repeatedly in your back?

Trembling, I tipped my chin up into the sharpened edge, tempting him to end my anguish, half hoping he would. A small stream of blood trickled from the feeble cut. Eden did not flinch nor did he remove his eyes from mine, a cruel smile stretched out across gaunt features. I knew at that moment that I had lost something very dear to me, something that played a vital role in being the person I am today. I lost Eden. The only person I truly trusted.

My frozen heart shifted at the sight of his merciless gaze, my legs almost failing beneath me. His steadfast grip on the polished weapon shifted, cutting deeper into my skin, causing more crimson liquid to flow from the raw wound he had inflicted.

"I'm sorry things have to end this way, Tessa." His tongue darted out to wet his lips slowly as he craved the scent of my blood. He dipped his head down to my neck and I squeezed my eyes shut as he slid his cold tongue across my raw wound.