CHAPTER 140: THE DEVIL TELLS TRUTH

My heart was pounding against my chest, vibrating through his hand. It’s not about being scared, it was the moment’s intensity that I couldn’t decipher what his next action might be.

Would he pull me in for a kiss, or would he rip my heart right there so that no one else would have me? It screamed on his face as bright as day.

He held my eyes captive with that screaming look of indecisiveness. This man was mulling how his obsession with me would play out, and yet his oxblood eyes held the softest expression ever.

Damon Balthar, the man who didn’t have a flick of emotion in him, had one now.

"I’ll make you mine, Lou. Not like the gentleman my brother is, or the man of your dreams. I’m none of those things, and I’d rather become your nightmare."

"I hate you," I voiced without a moment of hesitation. It was the most genuine thing I have ever said, and I’m glad I did.

Damon smiled at me, his hand moving beneath my chin. "Hate outlives love."

He released me, and I could finally breathe. His touch felt like all the air was being sucked out of my lungs. Even now that he remained in proximity, it was difficult to breathe.

"Don’t be so tense, Lou. I won’t hurt you."

I wish I could believe him, but his words felt like an empty promise dropped into an abyss.

"You already hurt me, Damon, not that it matters if you don’t."

He chuckled. "With what? I have never raised my hand on you."

"Everything about you is pain." I walked to the table to drink water because my throat was suddenly dry. "Endless pain..."

I chugged down the entire full goblet.

"Pain?"

I felt him come closer from behind, and my entire body froze in place. I have had enough of him trying to make skin contact with me, as if he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

So I twirled, my hands gripping the table. "Why are you so persistent?"

"You won’t like the answer to that, Lou. I prefer to wait it out... until you slowly realize how much I’ll mean to you."

"Dreams..." I murmured. "All dreams. I’ve been there, I’ve been dreaming of things for a very long time, even begging the gods. Some things are not just meant to happen."

"Tell me you don’t feel anything when I’m near..." He came closer. "Tell me to my face. You may feel hate...But I know there could be something else."

"What is there? I told you it’s only pain!"

I heard a crack, and I quickly turned to the table. Where I had gripped was now laced with ice.

I turned to Damon and prayed I wasn’t seeing things again. His attention to it confirmed I wasn’t hallucinating.

I yanked my hand off the ice, watching with broad eyes as it seeped back into my skin.

"Are you curious, pretty Lou?" Damon murmured close to my ear. "All you have to do is ask..."

"W-What’s happening to me?" I murmured.

"You’re clever, Lou, you know..."

"I don’t—"

"You do."

I turned to him. "This is you... You’re playing your tricks again!"

"Your first impression of me is clouding your judgement now. Instead of accusing me, what you should be asking is why Drevon kept such a secret from you."

"No..." I shook my head. "This is you!"

"Do you want to know how long? It could be the reason he married—"

I slapped him across the cheek before he could finish. My chest pitched as the turmoil of emotions stormed my entire body. Unable to bear to be in his presence anymore, I hurried out of the gazebo, down the aisle.

"Don’t follow me!" I barked at the knights.

I had no idea where I was going, and I was already running out of breath by the time I got to the main garden.

I came to a halt and crouched as sobs wracked through me, a drop of my tear fell to the ground, and ice was made.

Am I a monster? Why is this happening to me?

I tried to breathe properly, but I couldn’t; each passing second felt like I’d drown. It became so cold that I felt like my heart would stop.

"Eloise?"

I sobbed, raising my face. The moment Drevon saw the icy tears streaming down my face, he hurried to me, but I was already up on my feet.

"Is it true?" I demanded, unintentionally making more ice.

"Eloise, please, calm down. You’re getting cold."

Cold? The cold he claimed I had was this?

"What am I?"

"Eloise."

"WHAT AM I?"

I flinched when all the topiaries turned solid ice. I panicked, running my hair through my hair.

I was doing this... I was making ice, how was this possible?

"She needs blood, Drevon," Damon said, coming from behind. "Before this gets worse, we need to feed her."

"This is not the time for this!" Drevon snapped at him.

"Blood?" I faced Damon. "W-Whose blood?"

"Mine or Drevon’s..." he replied casually.

I almost lost my footing, my fist clenching tightly on my gown.

"I-I’m a vampire?"

"Snowblood, that’s more tame."

A sharp ringing found my ears as I faced Drevon, hoping this was one of Damon’s tricks, but it wasn’t, was it?

"How could you keep this from me?"

"I couldn’t tell you, not yet..." he replied, briefly pinning Damon with a brutal look and flickering to mine. "There was so much I couldn’t understand. I did not mean to keep it from you, I promise you that. I was afraid you would hate yourself."

"Too late for that now."

My mind went numb, and the ice somehow reversed back where I stood, and was nowhere to be seen. I took a step forward, and Drevon attempted to come to me as well as Damon.

"Don’t!" I screamed at them. "Both of you leave me alone!"

I ran out without looking back.