Page 40 of The Devil's Redemption

But it’s also terrifying. Like a childhood nightmare on steroids. Because the boogeyman isn’t real, which means he can’t hurt you. But people like Jasper, evil creatures with no moral compass and even less remorse, they’re all too real. And when someone like him takes the person you love most in this world, it’s like they stole a piece of your own heart. The one piece that you know you’ll never survive without.

By the time we make it to my bedroom, I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. I close and lock the door behind me before taking a seat on the edge of the bed, my head in my hands.

“Blade? What’s wrong? What happened?”

I take a deep breath and tell myself that Sasha is okay. She’s here. That my heart is no longer in pieces, and I’m the only one who can keep it that way.

“Nothing. I’m okay. I was just thinking about when you were gone.”

My chest begins to ache, and I press my palm against it to try to ease the pain. The bed dips next to me as Sasha sits and wraps me in her arms.

This is ridiculous, I should be the one comforting her. Not the other way around.

Get your shit together, Carson.

I pull her arms from around me and place them in her lap. Running a thumb down her check, I reassure her that I’m just fine.

“I’m all right. I promise.”

I pull the note I found in her room from my back pocket and hand it over to her. With shaky hands, she unfolds it and begins to read. I read it once more, over her shoulder.

If you think you’ve seen the last of me, think again, princess.

I was just getting started.

They took my queen from me, and now I’m going to take out everyone around you, one by one, until there is no one left to protect you.

I’ll tear your entire town apart until there is nowhere left for you to hide.

Just wait… You thought the cellar was bad? You haven’t seen anything yet.

I’m going to take what I was promised years ago.

Whispering Valley will finally be mine, and you will be my new queen.

All hail the king.

I wrap my arm around her, giving her both warmth and strength as she reads.

“Oh my god, Blade,” she cries, looking up at me. “What the hell are we going to do?”

I gently pull the note from her hands and lay it on the nightstand. Then I lie back on my bed and tug her against my side. Holding her close to me, I quietly tell her she’s safe. That there isn’t anything or anyone in this world who can take her from me again.

Between being on her feet for too long and the stress of Jasper’s threat, it doesn’t take long for her to cry herself to sleep. Once I hear the steady pattern of her breathing, it lulls me into a deep sleep of my own.

Chapter Sixteen

I can’t rememberthe last time I slept so soundly. I don’t know if it’s being out of the hospital or because I was wrapped in Blade’s arms all night, but I slept like a rock. It was the first night I didn’t dream of… Anything. It was just a heavy darkness, but without the despair that I usually feel.

I’m going to visit Maggie today, right after I finish breakfast. I have the leave in conditioner that Bon-Bon and Blade used on me to tame my wild hair, so I can help Maggie with hers. I regret not going back to visit her yesterday after we got back from my house, but I had no idea that trip would zap all of my energy.

Was it the travel that did it or the stress of Jasper’s threat?

A little of both, I think.

I need to ask Maggie some questions. She’s been nice enough to me so far, and I want to know more about her. I want to hear her story. How she got onto Jasper’s radar, how she ended up in the hands of Death’s Road. I don’t know why, but I feel like the more details I have, the more I can make sense of what happened.

Even though I know there’s no sense to be made.

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