Page 98 of House of Ruin
“What did you want? Time’s ticking.”
“I—” Blaze stopped. His throat bobbed, his eyes dark. Then he tried again. “I came to realize something while sitting here alone in the dark for many hours.”
Alecto’s heart jumped in her chest. “It wasn’tthatmany hours.”
Blaze smirked. “I realized something that I think should have been obvious a while back.”
“Yeah?” Alecto asked. It took all her energy to will her voice to be steady. “And what’s that?”
A long heavy silence stretched between them. A small frown settled between Blaze’s eyebrows.
“I realized that I crave you. I desire you in many ways. Ineedto have you. And not only in my bed. I want all of you, every single piece of you.”
A breath hitched inside Alecto’s throat.
A confession of Blaze’s feelings.
Something she had been waiting for, working hard for with her subtle manipulation and flirting. And she had succeeded. Finally, Blaze was admitting she had him.
Alecto had always imagined the victory would be sweet as summer honey. That it would feel like being on top of the world. But as she looked at Blaze’s face, softened by the darkness around them, by the honest admission of his feelings, Alecto found herself confused.
A moment too late, Alecto realized Blaze had been waiting for her answer.
“Ouch,” Blaze said. His cheeky smirk was exchanged for a bitter smile. “I guess it’s only me.”
“No.” Alecto’s mouth moved before she realized. Blaze blinked, his lips parted. “No. Wait. I wasn’t expecting to hear it, okay? You can’t stun a girl into silence and then make assumptions.”
Blaze chuckled.
Alecto’s mind worked hard to find the right thing to say. But she couldn’t. With the events that had happened and the things Blaze had told her, her chest swelled with emotions she couldn’t identify nor understand.
Thankfully, Val interrupted them. “Come on, Black. They’ll know something is up.”
“I’m coming,” Alecto said, breathless. Before she let the invisibility spell hide her, she turned to Blaze and with a hammering heart whispered, “Me too.”
36
Nothing could force one to reconsider all the decisions they had made in their life like spending one night in a jail cell.
Blaze had never dreamed of finding himself in such a situation.
And he had never been happier to return to his room in Darly, even if right now all their parents were gathered in his room, talking over one another, trying to make a point.
What kind, Blaze wasn’t sure anymore.
He had lost track of the conversation, of the blaming and convincing, in the past hour since he’d gotten back from the police station.
Andro sat next to Blaze on the windowsill, their eyes trained on their parents. Then Andro tilted his head to the side, a frown between his eyebrows. “Don’t they remind you of someone?”
Blaze glanced at their parents, then back at Andro. He shrugged, popping another cigarette between his lips. “Inner Circle?”
Andro grimaced. “It’s like looking in the mirror.”
Blaze couldn’t help releasing a laugh when Andro shuddered at the thought.
Of course, Blaze had thought about it. How similar they could be to their parents. It was easy to fall into familiar behavior.
“This cannot go unpunished,” Galliermo said, pointing a finger at Alatar. “Gondalez will answer to the board for letting this go as far as it did. Letting the police come in and accuse a member of the House of Snakes of murders?”
