Page 77 of How to Seduce a Slender

Smith eventually swallowed audibly before peeling backward in her touch. “All that to say, that it seems my heartache was for not.”

“What?” Melody snorted, eyeing him with confusion.

“Elyth is alive. I thought she died years ago with her father. I thought that’s who Sebastian buried. The bodies were beyond recognition by the time he came to the home. I never questioned it. I had hoped to find her married to the lord, safe and sound and still angry with me. But returning to find her dead hurt in a way I didn’t know how to process. And now…she’s alive! She’s supposed to be dead!”

“Yeah,” Melody snorted, “weird.”

Smith chuckled, shaking his head. “My sweet girl, you’re free to be angry with me now.”

“Angry?” Melody squawked. “Angry for what? I mean, angry at her, sure! I could have told you that girl was stringing you along for ages. And that little bedroom trick to get you into her bathroom of doom, or whatever?”

“I am lost, you are angry at Elyth?” Smith reeled back.

“Fuck yeah I am!” Melody roar, shooting to her feet. “She’s the necromancer, Smith! She’s been stringing you along, making you hunt down, what? Her competition, then bring her stuff to get stronger? She clearly uses and abuses your feelings for her to get what she wants. And the second she has to face the fact that you have needs too? She freaks out? Uh, hello! Did you not see the bloody butchers house in her bathroom Smith? She was probably fucking you then about to fuck you over! I mean, I’ve had some bad exes in the past. Real shitty people, Smith, like there—no, no, that’s not important. What’s important is Elyth takes the cake.The whole actual cake—and now?Ooooooh, and now!Now she’s hunting me down in the city because I saw her face in a diner doing shady deals with the government?”

Smith watched in complete reverence as Melody paced, her fangs bared, claws extended, and eyes flashing red. She huffed and puffed, her shoulders hunching with every explosive swing of her arms. Then, when she spun to face him, the tension dropped. “Smith, I’m really sorry she tricked you.”

“Sweet girl—”

“No!” Melody threw her hands out. “No! You don’t get to diminish it like it’s okay what happened. Yeah, you kinda were a dick about eating her dreams without asking her. It’s kinda scary if you don’t know about it going in. I get that. I know you didn’t intend to hurt her. And intent doesn’t negate harm. You hurt her. I get that…but she hurt you too. She did far worse than you jump scaring her with a little dream nibbling, Smith. She wasusingyou! She manipulated your feelings for her and took advantage of you, Smith! And so, I want you to admit right now that she took advantage of you.”

Smith sank in his seat, his gaze dropping to his hands.What happens when the smartest man in the room is outsmarted?Smith prided himself on it. Being the person who always had a plan, and several backup plans for that plan…but had he become that person because of her? Had he become this obsessive strategist because the one time he didn’t plan anything through. “I was taken advantage of…”

Melody crept forward, kneeling in front of him. “And you’re allowed to be hurt, Smith. You’re allowed to be angry.”

Smith glanced up at her, studying the face of a woman who flayed him alive and put him back together without breaking a sweat. Who needed The Hungry One when he had a werewolf who spoke her mind?

“I am angry,” he exhaled. Melody scooped up his hands from his lap and enclosed them in hers. He leaned toward her, absorbing her warmth as she met him in the middle. His lips brushed her forehead. “Thank you, sweet girl. I…I think I need to sit with it for a while.”

“Do you want me to stay?” She pushed on her toes to go an extra inch to kiss his cheek tenderly.

“No, no, I won’t keep you. Besides, I think you and Dahlia have words with each other?” He cocked his head slightly.

She giggled nervously, “Yeah, it’d be kinda hypocritical of me if I had that big ole’ speech about holding people accountable and didn’t tell Dahlia she hurt my feelings, huh?”

“Precisely. But the difference being, from experience, Dahlia is very understanding. And she’s very open to discussions. Just as long as you talk with her about it. She has a history of lashing out when emotional and worried about someone and they just leave her behind. They never stay to fight.” Smith squeezed her hands before urging her up onto her feet.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Melody snorted, rolling up her sleeves in a joking manner. “If she wants to fight, I’m ready to fight. I’ve got ten years of pent-up waitress rage. Just kidding…mostly. Alright, here I go. You sure you don’t want me to stay?”

Smith shook his head, motioning for her to go. “I’ll be alright, sweet girl, you go talk it out with Dahlia. I’ll come find you a little later.”

She smiled at him one last time before scampering off. And Smith sat in silence for a long moment. Staring at the space across from him. Then, leaning back and studying the ceiling for an even longer moment.

Finally, he exhaled heavily, “Agatha! I can feel you looming.”

“Smith!” she huffed, slithering through the doorway as if she hadn’t been floating just beyond his office wall. “I wasn’t, bah, who am I kidding? I was. I was eavesdropping.”

“I know,” he chuckled, patting the couch beside him. The ghostly banshee floated down beside him, and they both let out a long sigh. They sat in each other’s peace, the soft lull of the house creaking under ghoul feet and the whisper of a breeze as ghosts slipped through walls the only sound. At least he didn’t hear screaming. That was a good sign. Then, he spoke, breaking the quiet with a croaking sound. “I don’t know how to feel.”

Agatha nodded, sparing him a lop-sided, apologetic smile. “You don’t have to feel anything. Feeling nothing or hollow are valid responses, Smith.”

He exhaled a rattled breath, “I wish to be angry like Dahlia and Melody. Just to be so angry flames come out of my ears. To shake my fists and roar at the world but…I don’t. I feel defeated again.”

“You don’t have to be like them to be angry. Both those women are fiery; they’ve got heat to them. That’s how they process emotions. But Smith, you’re like me, you’re like air. Like shadow. You’re cool, and a brush of wind. You only grow turbulent when it’s necessary, not when it hurts. This is what your angry looks like Smith. It’s just, I don’t think you’ve ever been this angry before. It’s hard when you don’t have the words to describe it. You being such a wordsmith and all. You pride yourself on being the smartest one in the room…because you’re afraid of being made a fool again. But you’re not alone now. You’ve got Ms. Melody, me, Lord Rosemont, Austin, you’ve got a family now. And we’re not going to let anyone take advantage of you again.”

Agatha put a hand to the cushion, palm up. He took it and squeezed lightly. And so he sat with Agatha, staring out across his office.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

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