Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54626 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“Shut. The hell. Up. You do not get to speak about her,” Damien snarled.
“I don’t understand,” Amelia whimpered.
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Damien got up and poured himself a scotch at the bar from an unopened, un-fairy-humped bottle.
“Then who?” MF threw out.
Why was she still here? Why were any of them here?
He downed the warm amber liquid and set the glass on the bar. “Amelia, what you need to know is that I never intended to feel anything for Sky. It was simply one moment of weakness. One split second of—”
“He was jerking off!” Pet flew by again, leaving that bomb to explode on its own.
“You! Out!” He pointed at Pet, who disappeared into the kitchen.
“So let me get this straight,” Amelia said. “You’re cursed for reasons you won’t explain, and that curse kills people you like?”
“Yes. Essentially.”
“So you decided to jerk off to my sister!” Amelia stood and pointed at the wall as if Sky was there. Perhaps she was.
“It is not like that,” Damien explained. “I have methods of keeping certain emotions in check. I was imagining someone else, but there must’ve been a moment when Sky slipped into my thoughts.”
“I repeat! You killed my sister by jerking off to her?” Amelia narrowed her beautiful brown eyes, which reminded him of Sky.
Damien looked away. “Call it whatever you like, but you must leave now.”
Pet returned, holding a roll of plastic wrap. What was she doing with it? “Sky says you need to protect them. And she believes your curse isn’t what you think.”
Was that why she’d invited her sister and Miguel? She thought the curse was a joke? “I assure you, my curse is genuine and very dangerous. I have lived with it for a very long time.”
“She says you should open your eyes.”
What the hell did that mean?
Tell them about me. Do it, tailor. It is the only way to make them see.
His beast was right. There was much more to the situation, and if Damien wanted everyone gone, he had to inform them of the true danger.
“You do not understand, Sky.” Damien spoke to the ceiling, not knowing where else to look. “My curse is the least deadly thing about me.” He lowered his voice, finding it difficult to explain. “I am not alone in this body. It is shared with what is essentially my twin brother. He is a depraved animal, a heartless killer, and he has the darkest soul you will ever encounter. None of you are safe in my presence.”
The room fell quiet.
Finally. Damien had gotten their attention. He was no gentleman.
CHAPTER TWENTY
After his confession, Damien went upstairs to shower. He figured by the time he was done, they would all be gone.
Funny. He had never shared that information about his beast with anyone since Willamina.
Now that he had, Damien felt more in control. “You must live in the light, Damien, so that your brother will always remain in the dark,” his father used to say.
Was this what he had meant? Acknowledging the truth.
Because his father had never shied away from embracing his own twin. Neither had his grandfather. They had both wielded their dark beasts with absolute control while Damien always attempted to temper it, hide it, fight it.
Generations of Greystones, and he was the first to turn his back on what his family called a gift.
Frankly, he never saw it as such, but perhaps that had more to do with her…
They had agreed to meet around midnight in their usual spot. It was near the old barn just past the Millers’ farm. It was where they had spent the last three months kissing, fucking, and talking of a different life. One where they lived together.
A dream, of course.
Willamina was a duchess now, ten times more beautiful than when he’d met her as a girl before she went off to London. She had grown into a confident, intelligent woman with a defiant streak.
These past months, Damien had come to love her more than words could say, which was why it took everything he had to keep himself grounded. They had this moment and only this moment. No matter how much they spoke of it, they would never marry, have children, or share a proper bed. A world of wealth, rank, and tradition separated them.
Her path was set, as was his.
Now twenty-nine years old, he would soon take over the family business and likely marry one of the submissive, uneducated women his father was foisting on him. They’d tried for years to get him to wed, but he resisted. For good reason. His beast could turn him into the sort of man no woman deserved to live with.
“Damien?” Willa said, brushing her fingertips through the coarse hairs on his chest as they lay naked on a mound of hay.
“Yes, my love?” He stroked the creamy skin of her arm while staring up at the night sky. So many stars. Where did they all come from?