Page 166 of Remi's War (Four Dark Horsemen 2)

He sits up, immediately reaching for the small cup beside the bed and lifting the straw to my mouth, letting me take a few sips. “Slowly, chérie. We don’t want you to get sick.”

A laugh bubbles up inside me at this, considering I’m in a hospital bed sporting God knows how many injuries, and I can’t resist teasing him. “A little nausea won’t kill me, I don’t think.”

However, hard lines appear on his face at my joke, and he perches on the bed, splaying his hands on either side of my head and caging me in his embrace. As he isolates us from the outside world, the air hitches in my lungs at how intently he watches me.

As if no one exists for him, and in a way, that’s true, right?

My possessive and obsessive man.

“I’m sorry, my darling,” he says, and my brows furrow in confusion. “I’m sorry my revenge has hurt the one pure thing in my life. I was blinded by my past. I ignored my present, and it’s not something that will ever happen again.”

A tear slides down my cheek, and he leans forward, scooping it with his lips as I ask, “Your grandfather?” A shiver of fear rushes through me at the thought of the despicable man.

“Shhh,” Remi whispers, leaving a small kiss on my lips before answering me. “I did shoot him, but the fucker is alive and well. He will go to prison in time, and everyone will know what he has done.”

My heart pangs painfully at this.

My parents. Remi’s parents. Amalia.

So many lives destroyed because of one man’s warped morals and ideas.

Then his words register in my ear.

“In time?” Shouldn’t he be in custody already? He almost killed me!

Something flashes in his eyes, and my stomach sinks. “Once he pays a debt to a person he hurt.” He doesn’t say my twin’s name out loud, but I understand it’s her anyway.

She is just like them, so I’m not surprised she wants to inflict her revenge on the man responsible for all the hell she went through.

Still, I wish she would rise above it.

True strength lies in putting everything behind you and living with light in your soul, because being a serial killer hardly makes you better than the ones who hurt you.

I don’t get to judge them.

I can only love them both, even if she refuses to see me.

Sighing in relief that this horrible man is finally caught, I put my hand on his chest right above his heart. “Are you okay now? The monster inside you, is he… content?”

He traces the back of his hand over my cheek, sliding down to my neck and then to my collarbone all while his eyes hold mine, so many emotions flashing in them I can’t name them all.

But through it all, there is one that stands out the most, and I give him a shy smile.

“They say that only with the years are we able to see how destiny gives us exactly what we need, and someday we might be grateful for it, no matter how hard it was.” He places a butterfly kiss on my neck. “I was born a bastard who was forced to live in exile among the princes. And while I never wished for what they had, I just worked to be better. Even though my parents hurt me every day, and I wondered what I did to deserve such treatment. When I found out the truth… I hated my life with a passion. To be denied your birthright, your true name, your family. To be rejected just for the simple fact you are alive. It’s the kind of pain no one should experience.”

My soul weeps for the lonely boy who once was lost in this world, who never understood why everyone kept rejecting him.

“However, if I was born a prince, I'd never have gotten the princess.” He cups my neck, his breath fanning my face as more tears form in my eyes. “A princess who has one thing in abundance he never knew. Love. My darkness craved her, needing her light like breath, because she consumed me and accepted me without reservation. To be wanted despite my hideous past is a gift she has given me that I will cherish till the day I die.” I fist his shirt, dragging him closer, as he whispers, “I love you, Penelope. And just like in the epic poem, I’d face any hardship just to be with you.” He slams his mouth on mine, connecting us in a deep kiss, our tongues entwining and dueling for dominance, scorching heat rushing through me.

With this kiss, we seal our silent promises; we wash away the past that hurt us and hope for a better future where his darkness exists, but he no longer needs to thrive in it in order to live.

For our love is more important than any pain we experienced.

He will always be one of the Four Dark Horsemen; however, the difference is that I won’t ever let his darkness become what defines him or rules him.

His internal war can finally come to an end.

Tearing my mouth away, I rub his lips, and his brow lifts. “Any confessions, chérie?”

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