Vicious Minds: Part 3 (Children of Vice 6)

I smiled. “Feels nice.”

And it did. The cool water on my skin was refreshing.

“You’ve been running a slight fever,” he said.

“How…long has it been?”

“Five days,” he said, moving down my neck.

“Five days!” My eyes widened. “Siena—”

“We’ll deal with it later.”

“Ethan…she’s not going to…take a break. You need to be—”

“Calliope,” he said, sternly glaring down at me, “I am exactly where I need to be. You are my first priority now.”

I frowned. He didn’t understand. If Siena couldn’t reach me, she’d either assume I was dead or that I had betrayed her. Which I had, which meant the three who were the most loyal to her would be out on the hunt. She could also be hiring more people. “She’s sick, but she hasn’t lost it all yet, Ethan—”

“You are my first priority,” he whispered to me, leaning closer. “Whatever is happening, I need you. We are all hunkered down. All the Callahans, in different places, for now. There have been attacks, but we are fine. We are saving our energy. Because we need you. We’ve all only gotten this far because of you. So, relax and let me finish.”

I did and watched as he carefully took off my gown and cleaned my exposed skin. He was very focused, very dedicated, calm…no, not calm, caring. He was caring. Even from the beginning, when he didn’t trust me, he was still caring. Even when he was angry and lost his temper, he was caring.

I’d had a lot of male targets in the past. Some of them cared, most of them did not. They, for some reason or another, fell for me, and I killed them. I used whatever tricks or lies necessary. I became exactly what they needed then killed them. But for some reason, he changed everything. I took off my mask, and he was still there. I put on my mask, and he was still there. I lied, I cheated, I stole, I’d done so many things to him, and in the end, he still trusted me, still waited beside me. Let me lead when I wanted to lead. He had shown me all of his flaws, too.

“In the beginning, you were just a stepping stone,” I confessed to him, as he washed my arm. “I planned to use their hate for your family to kill them. Then take your whole damn kingdom for myself. And start over at the top.”

“In the beginning, I planned on using you as my weapon,” he replied, flipping over my palm. “I’d use you to rein everyone in, draw my parents out, and then when you betrayed me—actually, I thought of killing you no matter what happened.”

“So, what happened?” I asked him.

He smirked, his eyes lifting. “I could ask you the same.”

“I know my answer.”

“Then give it.”

“You kept letting me know you were onto the truth but still trusted me anyway…always, without fail. Before, even last year. Even when you doubted, you always waited for me to explain. Why?”

“I’m insane.”

I laughed. It hurt, but I laughed. “I know. But even your insanity has a reason behind it. Why, Ethan? And don’t say love.”

He stared at me for a long time before saying, “Because your darkness had more light in it than my own.”

I didn’t understand. “Translation?”

“You are very entertaining.” He grinned when I glared at him.

I rolled my eyes. “Really? You risked it all for a little entertainment by me?”

“Yes.”

“Liar, unless you mean by entertainment, I helped distract you from the noise your head?” I pressed.

He frowned but said nothing.

Smirking, I sighed deeply. “Fine. But stop looking for entertaining people. That’s how you got attached to Ivy.”