fact my brother fu—fu—” She bites back a sob, unable to finish.
“Baby girl, please.”
Her attention suddenly snaps to the door, eyes returning to their normal state. “The witches are here.”
I grind my jaw because I don’t want us to leave the conversation like this but, alas, duty calls. We need that daylight spell. “I promise you we’ll finish this conversation later. I’ll answer any questions you have.”
“Not necessary.” She wraps her arms around her middle. “I’ve already heard all I need and want to know. Go handle the witches, Callan. I’ll be fine, I swear it.”
No she won’t.
We both know it.
♫ Titanium - David Guetta ♫
I’m still reeling later that evening, riding this endless, maddening high that has only dissipated enough for me to tame the beast threatening to break free at any moment and think somewhat rationally. I will say this: the beast will best me, soon I suspect, but I want it to.
I need it to.
A mountain of secrets, years of deceit, betrayal—everything I thought I knew was nothing more than a lie. All of it. Even my mother, who didn’t want me anywhere near Peter, was secretly conspiring against me, banding with the Council in their feat to rid themselves of Peter Pan.
In all honesty, that’s not even what I’m most aggrieved about. On the one hand, I can understand where the need for a plan stemmed from. As Hook said, Peter was different in ways most couldn’t explain because they had no knowledge of the truth. Rosewood didn’t know what he was capable of, they saw him as a threat. It’s natural they’d want him out of here, and as the urgency increased throughout the years, so did the Council’s need to be free of the secrets my father had forced upon them.
Secrets he wanted to be free of himself.
So yes, perhaps they didn’t go about it the right way. They could’ve simply just told my mother the truth, but that would’ve still left Peter in the picture.
That still would’ve left the spell.
That still would’ve left me as the only possible solution to killing him because of my stubbornness to love him.
All I can think about is ending Peter every time his face pops into my mind. What he did without qualms is eating me alive, spurring the Fae to supersede me. Just thinking about it makes me sick. He’s my goddamn brother, a fact he knew clear as day when our father dragged him here after the atrocity he committed...and he still used me, still fucked me and allowed me to fall for him, wove himself so deep into the fabric of my being that I withered away and killed myself when he left me high and dry.
Because he got caught fucking his little sister and using her as some sick form of entertainment while trapped in a world he didn’t want to be in.
Death. Kill him. End him. Suck him dry of his soul, the beast whispers, soul quivering with rage.
I force myself to inhale a deep, cleansing breath, willing the monster to remain at bay for the time being. Not yet—I won’t allow it to break free just yet.
Just this morning I would’ve crumbled at the thought of triggering this demon. But now? Now I realize this was fate’s plan all along. Immortality served to keep me alive after an unjust death. The Fae, however, serves a higher purpose. Not only to see through the plan Hook and the Council had put in motion, but to see it through for myself.
To bring myself the peace and justice I deserve after being played like a puppet for the majority of my life.
One way or another, this was always going to happen, and I’m only glad I have Hook by my side as I begin to explore it. Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe I should be disgusted with him, as eager to end him as I am Peter, but no one is perfect, not a soul on this planet.
If nothing else, at least he feels remorse. He knows what he did was selfish, debased, downright fucking immoral, and he owns it. He may not have intended to speak the words of his own accord, but when the time came, when the whole truth begged to be set free, he stepped up and put himself on the line.
Has made up for it in tenfold. The only goddamn person who truly gave a single shit about me during my darkest hour.
Hence why I’m so thankful for him.
Why I