Page 24 of House of Malice
“Is this where you wanted to read the journal?” Alecto asked. “We’ll be cold in ten minutes.”
Without saying another word, Blaze took Alecto’s hand and walked to the other side of the roof. There, behind a small shedlike building that was an official entrance to the roof from within the building, Blaze had set up a little corner for them earlier in the day.
Alecto gasped when she noticed the makeshift platform of wooden pallets covered in blankets and pillows. It was tucked in a private corner of the roof and still had the view of Venefica’s grand campus, the Cursed Forest in the distance, and the street below them.
“You did all this?” Alecto asked, looking at him with awe.
Blaze shrugged. “I wanted to change the location, but we need somewhere private to read the journal. And this place has a view.”
The smile that Alecto awarded him with could have cured Blaze of the deadliest disease.
He gestured for her to sit down. “You will definitely not feel cold here, baby,” he said.
Her gaze was scorching when she said, “I have no doubts.”
They settled comfortably on the pallets, between the plush pillows and blankets. Alecto cupped her coffee between her palms, her gaze focused on the view in front of them.
“You never go back to Avalon Hills during summer break,” Alecto said.
“Neither do you.”
Alecto didn’t answer. Blaze pulled out the journal and placed it in her lap. She glanced down at it.
“Are you still scared to continue reading it?” Blaze asked.
Alecto shrugged. “It’s easier now that we started. And so far, she’s the way I remember her. Even if it surprises me that she’d be into Galliermo. But again, the way he is with her…”
The way Galliermo had been with Demitria was something Blaze hadn’t thought his father was capable of. It was hard for him to believe that once upon a time, his father had been able to display more than cruelness.
And it also made Blaze painfully aware that he had been well on that path of becoming just as cruel as his father, if not for Alecto and what happened between them.
It had altered his trajectory.
“Val read the whole thing,” Alecto said. “She told me which entry to read first, and that entry was…” Alecto swallowed, shaking her head. “It wasn’t something that sounded like my mother.”
Blaze took Alecto’s hand and gave her what he hoped was reassuring squeeze.
Alecto cleared her throat. “But anyway, Val said that there are things here about the murders, and these might be important. Maybe we can figure out why they even needed those ritual murders in the first place.”
“Alright, let’s get to it then,” Blaze said. “Do you wanna read, or should I this time?”
“You read,” Alecto said with a smirk. “I’m going lie back and enjoy my spiced coffee. Thank you, by the way.”
Blaze smirked and winked at her. He flipped through the pages of the journal until his father’s and Gondalez’s names caught his eye. He read out loud:
Dear Diary,
Galliermo and I, we’re a thing. And I couldn’t be happier. I never thought I’d get lucky enough to find a man who treats me like a princess and loves me as much as Galliermo does. When he looks at me, it’s as if nothing else in the world exists. Just me and him.
And he’s a warlock! An actual witch who can do magic. My head still reels whenever I think about it. I think I haven’t processed the fact that magic exists, that this world is actually right next to ours. So similar, yet so different.
Anyway, I keep wandering off topic… But you know, journaling is for letting your thoughts wander and just spilling everything that’s in your mind on the paper. So I’m doing it right.
I don’t have that same fear about Galliermo turning against me and becoming cruel. I think… I think he’s too into me already. He crossed the line from which we cannot come back from. Or, at least, that is what I like to believe.
I spent a lot of time watching him and observing every single thing about his personality. There is so much to feel, explore, understand. And I am hungry for all of it. I can’t get enough.
He’s a wonderful man, but he’s not perfect. And I realize that. He hides it well, even from me, but I sometimes can see how insecure he feels about his family and origins. Maybe, just maybe, it could be the reason why he’s putting on that mask of cruelness. It’s like armor.
