Blood Oath

na's

us kind guns, knives, poison and the slow kind the one

realized how deep the damage went until he beg

with surgical care right beside my head. The first time, I threw it across the room. The second, I burned it in the fireplace. The third, I crushed it

ing to get

s hands. The way his presence shifted a room. The way my skin reacted when he stood too close, the hea

ams did

uth that promised destruction.

t, there was a fifth rose on the pillow. This time, the petal

ithout knocking. The guards outside barely moved. One of them smirke

empty glass of whiskey in his hand. He wore a white button-up shirt with the sleeves roll

he drawled. "Miss me?" I marched to his desk and slammed the sixth rose down

playing y

lready

little bird fo

rting to show." I leaned over the desk. "You think you're clever? That this is seductive?" Hi

even his reputation suggested. He came around the desk like he

ow. "You wake up t

d. "You dre

ut slitting

im. Hard. "I'm not your toy." He didn't stumble. Didn't react. Just stared at me with that maddening c

and too close. I know you pace six times around your room before you sleep. I know you leave your window

Rosetti. I'm

uth w

re in

said. "I'

nutes, staring at the spot where he'd stood. Trying to steady my breathing

piral staircase that climbed to an upper balcony. It smelled like old books and secrets. I pulled a volume at rand

him come in

ed to the far shelves and began scanning the spin

s passed.Th

up slowly. "Because your father told you to?" He shook

aid. I scoffed. "You

heard the stories-the convent girl, t

at was

more tha

hy

er touched you not just your body, but your mind. You're untouche

t to ruin you in all the ways that count." I stood and shoved the book back into

helf, eyes locked on mine. When he reached me, he reached up-not to touch me, but to pull a book from the shelf above my h

n. Addictive, lethal, slow-burning poison but something inside me had begun to change. It

anted to ruin me but what scared me mor