Page 29 of Sweet Venom

Oh, hell yeah. I held a grudge like it was my full-time job. My reaction to Azariel Solonik was proof of it.

Hell yeah, I did. The spawn of Satan was impossible. Every single time I was near him, he acted like I was a disease. Like I was invisible—or worse, like I was beneath him. I didn’t care if my dreams were in his hands, he was an insufferable ass?—"

I stopped myself mid-rant, realizing I was about to cross into territory I promised I’d never revisit. I lowered my voice, my eyes flicking away from the screen out of habit—like somehow that’d help me keep my own secrets. I never told my parents how much Azariel really meant to me, or about our moments in the garden. I didn’t just feel heartbroken—I felt humiliated. After he shattered my naive heart, he acted like I was the dirt on his shoes.

Maybe I was being overly dramatic then, but he didn’t just hurt me once. He hurt me many times. He was the reason I overthought friendships. The reason that it was so hard for me to open up to people.

“Funny how you’d always been a little too intrigued with Satan and the dark, my girl.”

I narrowed my eyes, feeling a little bit betrayed by my mother pointing out things I would rather have forgotten.

“That had nothing to do with who shall no longer be named.” I forced a smile that felt faker than it sounded.

“Sure, it didn’t.” Mom tilted her head, studying me. “Was there something you wanted to tell me, Poe? Something more than him just being a little jerk to you?”

I froze, my breath catching. It wasn’t the first time she’d insinuated that my aversion for the heartless prince had to do with something more than him just being an ass, and every time she did, it stung. My chest tightened, and I couldn’t seem to push it back down. Yeah, it was something more. So much more. He was the reason why I didn’t believe in love. Not love like I yearned to feel. A love I thought I would grow up to have… with him.

Because I did dream of him. I always dreamed of gray… of him.

And he killed that dream the many times he made me feel like a fool for even thinking of offering my friendship and my heart.

I rubbed my chest when pain started to take over it.

“No,” I said, with a coldness I didn’t entirely feel. A coldness my mother didn’t deserve. “There was nothing more. He was just my asshole boss now, apparently. Nothing more.”

Liar…

I was a liar. Deep down, I knew. I cared. I cared too damn much. He made me feel things I didn’t want to feel. He’d alwaysmade me feel, and neither time nor space had stopped it. But I wasn’t ready to admit it. Not to Mom. Not to anyone. And especially not to myself.

“Whatever you said, Love Bug. Just knew that not everything was always as it seemed. You had to look beyond the darkness to appreciate the light.”

I frowned but said nothing else, and she sighed before speaking again.

“So, when was your next meeting?”

Shit.

I’d left the meeting after signing my talent and my dreams away to the devil, but I hadn’t told Mom that.

I bit my lips. “They messaged me to schedule another meeting tomorrow. I guessed I’d be seeing more of him.” And I’d probably hate every minute of it.

But I didn’t. I knew that. There hadn’t been a single moment in my life where I hated the beautiful, dark and heartless Solonik prince. Not even when he had been cruel and dismissive. I loved him even then.

And that made me an even bigger fool than him.

“Oh, good. You two kids play nice and have fun showing him what you’re made of, sweetie. You are a Nicolasi and we are magic. Sprinkle that shit all over him and see what happens,” she said happily—too happy—before saying goodbye and blowing me a kiss before ending the video call.

Oh, yes, I will sprinkle something on him alright… but it won’t be magic.

Chapter

Nine

BLACK HEARTS

Azariel

“Your love is venom. Sweet, dangerous, and I can’t seem to stop drinking it.”- A

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