Book 15: He Only Cares About Himself

Marianna

I’m not even out of the castle before my body succumbs to an immense wave of regret. I brace myself on the banister of a sweeping marble staircase curving down to the third floor, squeezing my eyes shut as I sink against the steps.

What is wrong with me?

I’m literally criminally insane, aren’t I? Blake is trying to help us, and I’m actively boxing him out, and for what? Unrequited feelings? A lingering ache of rejection I haven’t been able to dim?

The idea that had he just… grown up, been a fucking man about this… I wouldn’t have been through what I had to go through the past four years.

It should have been him by my side. It should have been his mark on my neck.

My phone buzzes repeatedly. My body curls with dread as I hang my head between my knees, resisting the urge to scream in frustration.

Female voices drift toward me from the hallway below. I lift my head as a trio of women in strange outfits walk past the ba