Page 89 of Sweet Venom

But I never let anyone see it.

Especially not her.

Not Poe.

I watched in silence as she reached the garden’s edge, stepping gently between the rosebushes. For a moment, I wanted to stop her—call her name, pull her back before it was too late.

But I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

I stood frozen, my heart pounding louder than the thunder still cracking overhead. My breath caught in my throat as she wandered deeper into my madness.

Because she wasn’t just walking toward the center of the garden.

She was walking toward me.

And she didn’t even know it.

She was already too deep in my blood-soaked world.

Too deep inside my black heart.

This had to happen.

She had to see it.

The truth.

The truth is, I’ve loved her since we were children.

Since the first moment I saw her—wild blue hair, and that strange, unshakable light in her green eyes.

She pulled me in, without ever trying. And for years I buried it.

I buried that feeling under ice. I pretended it was nothing. Let it rot beneath layers of indifference and cruelty.

But every tender look she gave me, every quiet second we shared—she thawed something in me. Slowly. Steadily. Lovingly.

And now, here she was.

At the edge of everything I’d tried to hide.

Standing at the threshold of my darkest obsession.

But there’s no turning back now.

And there will be no more hiding.

Not from her.

And as she reached the center of the garden, I felt my heart hammer like thunder against my chest.

I wasn’t certain about many things when it came to us but I knew one thing for sure.

I was madly in love with her.

I’ve been in love with her since I was nine years old.

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