Page 94 of Grim and Oro
But not once do I feel regret.
No. I should, but I don’t. She deserves better than me. I don’t really care. Because when I look at her, I think—
I will choose you over the world, every single time.
Call me a villain.
Call me a monster.
Just let me call youmine.
BLISS
She’s angry at me for saving her.
Of course she is.
“Why did you do that?” she demands, her eyes shooting daggers from across her bedroom.
“You think I would watch you die, for the sword? Did you think I would make any choice that wasn’t you?” I did.I almost did.
“Yes,” she says. “You said so.”
She’s right. I meant it, up until I saw a world flash before my eyes, one that didn’t include her. I thought reason could outweigh feeling, and perhaps that was the most foolish thing of all.
“Things changed,” I explain.
Changedis a mild way to put it.
She shattered my life like a meteor, burning everything in her path.
“But your realm,” she says. “You said you need it. For you, it’s the most important thing in the world.”
“My realm does need it,” I admit. My hand is trembling as my fingers slide delicately, reverently, down her temple. “But it is not the most important thing in the world.”
She is.
Sheismy world.
She looks at me, as if she could possibly understand. As if she could even know a fraction of the feelings I have for her.
If only she knew that I once thought myself incapable of feelinganythinganymore.
My eyes slip down her body, first to see if she’s injured. To assure myself that she is here, she is safe. Then, I look for other reasons.
“I touched it,” she says. “For a moment, I touched it. Maybe I’ll be able to find it again, now that it knows me.”
I sigh. She doesn’t understand. Of course, she doesn’t. I’ve lied to her about this plan from the very beginning.
“Isla,” I say gently, finally feeling regret. Regret that I ever had a plan that came at her expense. “I don’t want to use the sword anymore.”
Shock. Her brows come together. “What? Why?”
“Its cost is too high,” I say, meaning it.
“How are you going to save your realm now? How are you going to stop the dreks?”
Is it terrible of me not to be considering them at all? I truly am a monster.
