Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters #6)- Kristy Cunning Page 0,192

of chilled air in the room with me in the next instant, and I hear the door click shut.

Sighing, I stand up, look in the mirror, missing Arion already. I’m starting to think I’m way clingier than they are.

I watch my smile slowly fall away when I see the side of my neck.

Two small scars.

All those bites, and I only have two, already-healed wounds that are scarred. That must have been the bite that did whatever gypsy/bloodmagic/cosmic bonding thing that just happened.

How did this vampire bridal ceremony come about?

Are the Vampyres all this romantic?

Why is my smile taking up my whole face? I don’t feel so happy that I’m just bursting at the seams or anything.

But I can’t help the painful smile that won’t seem to go away. Anna pops up, props her hands under her chin, bats her lashes, and gives me a wistful sigh.

My smile flatlines the second I see her.

“You broke almost all the rules.”

She grins broader. “Only because I know them better than you do.”

“Only because you, my subconscious-capturing monster, suppress all the things you don’t want me to know.”

“Isn’t it freeing to finally be able to talk about it? Careful, though. They’ll be coming out of the cellar soon. Just waiting on Idun’s scent to be fully washed away,” she tacks on, speaking around a mock yawn. “Then you can curl up with your four boyfriends, who now want us—the real us, Violet.”

Us.

Me and my monster.

I’m still not okay with my monster.

“For the record, I really do hate you,” I tell her, giving her a dry look.

“For the record, they still think you’re sweet,” she adds.

“It’s because I’m nice. They can’t see the difference,” I say.

“Oh! I forgot something,” she says, her eyes widening as her very alarming grin grows.

She disappears from sight. In the next instant, there’s a memory—that’s not mine—that plays inside my head.

I know my eyes go round when I remember electrifying, slightly demolishing, and destroying my knock-off competition’s store…using Emit’s body to do the bulk of the dirty work.

Poor…Emit.

Covering my mouth, I gape into the mirror.

“Anna, that’s going too fucking far! I said no collateral damage, and you could have hurt him!”

There’s an echo of laughter, and I crack my neck to the side. This is going to be a very long eternity.

I officially have more cosmic baggage than all four of my very ancient boyfriends combined. I hope they’re ready for that, since they rushed into claiming me and all.

Besides poor Vance, who I don’t even know how to talk to right now.

“Trick me again, Anna, and I’ll start trusting you less and less,” I assure my scary, crazy, sly, diabolical, and mildly delusional monster.

“Aye, aye, Captain,” comes her voice, even though she remains unseen.

Eventually, I’ll get the hang of controlling all of this. Until then, I’m still apparently just along for the ride, but at least it’s not flying downhill at an outrageous skid anymore.

I’m in the slow lane.

Finally.

I hope.

I really frigging hope.

Chapter 54

VIOLET

“You look perfect,” Leiza says, smiling over at me. “Even if you did forever wed the scariest vampire to have ever lived.”

Her voice wavers with some apprehension, just before she gulps very loudly. Her smile looks more and more forced with each passing second.

Lemon, however, looks so relieved.

“Honestly, I think it means we’ll see him less. He’ll have no reason to intimidate us into helping him out. Not to mention, his vampire beta is getting better about talking him up. I think he saw that as some sort of draw to getting to know us,” Lemon confesses, paling a little. “There’s no need in him getting to know us. We’ll talk him up if he really needs it that badly.”

“We feel comfortable saying this, because you swore we could be honest, and we trust you,” Mary rushes to say, peering over her shoulder.

“Shera had this entire room insulated, because she didn’t want everyone hearing me have sex with four alphas. Mostly because she’s not having sex and doesn’t want to be reminded what she’s missing out on,” I assure them, gesturing around my empty room. “She had it done after Caroline broke my walls.”

My hair gets pulled a little harder than necessary, as Shera continues to add curls. I grin at her in the mirror, but she pointedly ignores me.

“You have to be pressed all the way against the door to even hear small pieces of a normal toned conversation,” Ingrid cuts in, almost distractedly, while she eats her yogurt and focuses her attention on it.