Page 106 of House of Ruin
Circles that precise couldn’t be found in nature.
Alecto’s heart was hammering in her throat, and she tried very hard to keep herself calm. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to come to the Cursed Forest with Norse when they didn’t know who was behind those murders. Who was trying to sabotage their House.
“You’re looking rather pale, Black.” Norse clicked his tongue, eyeing her from head to toe. “You good?”
Alecto nodded, lifting her chin. “It’s the middle of fucking winter. Why don’t we get to rehearsing the damned lines and get back to someplace warm as soon as possible?”
Norse smirked. “As you wish then.”
Cracking her neck, Alecto walked over to the fallen logs. She fished out her script from her bag and set it on the timber.
“Where do you want to start?” Norse asked.
Alecto turned to find him standing right behind her, their bodies just inches apart. She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Ever heard of personal space?”
Again, one corner of Norse’s mouth lifted. “You know, we’re going to need to kiss on that stage. Once or twice if my memory serves me well. We might as well get used to being close.”
In that moment, Alecto wished she could smash her fist into his perfectly sculpted pale face. She wished she could storm out of the damned woods and lock herself in her room where it was warm, cozy, and safe.
But Alecto couldn’t do any of these things. So she took a long inhale, counted to ten, exhaled, and smiled at Norse. “Read your fucking lines, will you?”
“My sun, my will, my heart,” Norse read the lines from his script. “You are my everything, no matter how far you go, how much you try to run away and hide. Destiny has brought us together, Carmen, the Gods wrote our love in the stars. And it will only die when the stars cease to shine in the dark night’s sky.”
His steel gaze found Alecto’s, and for a moment, she was frozen, unable to look away and read her own lines.
“I’m yours, with my soul and my body, with my mind and my heart.” The words came out as a whisper from Alecto’s lips. “My dearest Seville, loving you has been torture, painful, soul-searing torture, like the dark flames of Hel licking at my soul. But I belong to you, just as you belong to me.”
Norse clicked his tongue. “You see, Black? You were wrong last time. History shows that belonging to someone unconditionally is above it all.”
It took Alecto all her will to not snap at Norse, to not show the storm raging inside her. “I’m afraid you completely misunderstood the point of the play, Fox.”
“Have I now? Care to elaborate?” Norse leaned in closer to Alecto, amusement dancing in his gaze. “Enlighten me, Black.”
“Belonging to Seville unconditionally was the mistake that got Carmen killed,” Alecto bit out the words. “It wasn’t something good. If she would have gotten her vengeance and gotten herself as far away from Seville as possible, she wouldn’t have ended up with her body at the bottom of the damned ocean. They were not meant for each other.”
Alecto’s voice cracked at the end, and she pushed past Norse, needing to get away from him.
Carmen had been stupid, weak. She had the power to bring the man who abused her to his knees, and what did she do? She’d forgiven him.
And wasn’t that what Alecto was doing? She had planned to bring Blaze to ruin; she had promised herself that was her goal. Only when he was suffering would she consider forgiving and forgetting.
I don’t regret much, but I do regret making you feel unsafe when I was around. I can’t change the past. But I can make sure it doesn’t repeat.
She was weak to the desire to believe his words. It was wrong for Alecto to want to put her plan for revenge aside and let herself believe that she and Blaze could do better. Or was it really? Alecto couldn’t tell anymore.
“You can’t know that,” Norse argued. “You cannot know how Carmen would have ended up if she hadn’t given herself to Seville.”
Alecto whirled on her heel, facing Norse. She didn’t want to think about her or Blaze, or whatever the moment they’d shared meant for her.
Me too.
“I’m not in the mood to debate tonight, Norse,” she said, keeping his gaze. “I would like to practice the lines, make sure we nail this scene, and then get some spiced black coffee.”
For a moment, Norse just looked at Alecto, not saying anything. Then he tilted his head down.
“Then that’s what we’re going to do, Black. And I’ll even let you treat me to some spiced black coffee.”
Alecto snorted, crossing her arms. But she wasn’t able to fight off a smile.
