Элисон Ноэль - Dark Flame

A child with smooth olive skin, large blue eyes, and a golden crop of curls that could only belong to Roman.

Could only belong to my nemesis, my enemy, my eternal antagonist whom I can no longer hate. Whom I only feel pity for after watching how, younger than the others and small for his age, he struggles to fit in, to please, to be noticed and loved, only to go from being an overlooked, ignored, and abused son, to everyone's servant, everyone's favorite whipping boy.

Even when Damen makes the elixir and urges them all to drink to spare them from the ravages of the Black Plague, Roman is the last to be served. Having completely overlooked him until Drina brought him forward, insisting the last drops be saved for him.

And even though I make myself stay until the end, watching hundreds of years of his growing resentment toward Damen, hundreds of years of his love for Drina being denied again and again, hundreds of years of him becoming so strong, and so accomplished, he can get anything or anyone he wants except the one thing he wants the most-the one thing I robbed him of forever-even though I watch all of that-I didn't need to.

The beast was born six hundred years ago, when his father beat him, when Damen overlooked him, when Drina was kind to him. Sure he could've lived differently, made better choices, if only someone would've shown him the way. But you can't give away what you don't have.

And when the hologram ends, when the images disappear, and the lights go dim, I know what to do.

Without being told, I know exactly how to proceed.

So I rise from my seat, give a silent nod of thanks, and make my way back to the earth plane.

When I pull into the drive and park, I'll admit to a fleeting but still major feeling of trepidation. My mind spinning with questions like: Should I really be doing this? Will I even get a chance to do this? Or will she toss me right out like last year's Emo look?

Realizing I won't know until I try, I take a moment to calm myself, to get centered, to summon my strength from within, and fill myself with that bright, radiant, healing light just like Ava taught me to do. Tapping my amulet just under my dress once for good measure, I hop out of the car and head for the door.

Having no idea if she even still lives here now that she's super-charged, infinite, with the whole world at her feet, but figuring it's the best place to start.

"Hi." I smile, peering over the housekeeper's shoulder, relieved to see that from here anyway, everything seems to look pretty much the same, which means it's in its usual state of chaos and disorder. "Is Haven here?" I add, my voice hopeful, as though willing her to say yes.

She nods, opening the door even wider and motioning up toward Haven's room as I bolt up the stairs, following the wave of her fingers and allowing no time for turning back or secondguessing as I stand just outside the door and knock twice.

"Who is it?" she calls, clearly annoyed, as though the last thing she wants is a visitor. And when I tell her it's me, well, I can only imagine how that goes over.

"Well, well," she purrs, cracking the door just enough to confirm it, her eyes really raking me over without letting me in.

"The last time I saw you-you were trying to-" "Attack you." I nod, figuring I'd surprise her by admitting it, openly, freely, with no holding back. "About that-" I start, but she's not about to let me finish.

"Well, actually, I was going to say, seduce my boyfriend.

But yeah, come to think of it, the only one you got physical with was me." She smiles, but it's not the nice, happy kind, nope, far from it. "So tell me, Ever, what brings you here? Eager to finish the job?"

I look at her, keeping my gaze as open and honest and direct as I can when I say, "No, not at all. I actually came here hoping to put an end to all this-to explain and call a truce."

Wincing at my use of the word, remembering the last time I used it with Roman and how it didn't go over so well.

"A truce?" She lifts a brow and cocks her head. "You? Ever Bloom? The girl who pretended to be my best friend, stole my crush right out from under me-um, hel-lo, Damen?" she says, shaking her head in response to my look of confusion. "If you'll remember, I called dibs on him long before you, but still, you just dove right on in and scooped him right out from under me, which, fine, whatever, it all worked out in the end, I guess, but still. And then, even after all that, once you seemingly have everything a person could ever want, apparently that just isn't enough for you and so you decide to go after Roman too, because apparently one smokin' hot immortal just isn't enough. Oh, and you're so single-minded in your quest, you decide you'll try to kill me if that's what it takes to get to him.

But now, you've suddenly suffered a dramatic change of heart, leading you to just show up at my bedroom door and ask for a truce? Is that right? Is that what's really happening here?"

I nod. "Basically, but there's a lot more to it than that, something you need to know. Because the truth is, I tried to put a spell on Roman-a spell that would make him do my bidding and give me what I want. Only it totally backfired and ended up binding me to him in a way that-well, in a way I still don't fully understand." I scrunch my nose and shake my head at the memory of it. "But that's the only reason I did what I did. I swear. The magick took control and I wasn't in my right mind. It wasn't really me that was doing those things-or at least not entirely." I shake my head. "I know it sounds crazy, and it's not all that easy to explain, but it's like I was being compelled by a force outside myself." I look at her, willing her to believe. "I wasn't in charge."

She looks at me, head tilted, a single brow lifted. Smirking as she says, "A spell? You seriously expect me to believe that?"

I nod, carefully holding her gaze. Willing to confess the whole sordid tale, whatever it takes to get her to trust me again. But not here. Not in the hall. "Listen, do you think maybe I could-?" I gesture toward the inside of her room.

She frowns, eyes narrowed to slits as she takes her time to consider. Opening the door just wide enough for me to squeeze through when she says, "Just so you know, you make one move I don't like and so help me God I will take you down so fast you won't even know what hit-" "Relax," I say, plopping onto her bed just like the old days, only this is nothing like the old days, not even close. "I'm feeling very nonviolent today, I assure you. In fact, I'm feeling very nonviolent pretty much every day from now on, and I have no intention of going after you in any way. All I want is peace and the return of your friendship, but failing that, I'll settle for a truce."

She leans against her dresser, arms folded tightly across the black leather corset she wears cinched over her antique lace dress. "Sorry, Ever, but after all we've been through, it's just not that easy. I have no reason to trust you, and I'm gonna need a little more assurance than that."

I take a deep breath and run my hand over her old floral bedspread, surprised she hasn't changed it by now. "Trust me," I say, looking at her. "I get it, I really do. But, Haven"-I pause, shaking my head and starting again-"the truth is, I can't stand what's happened to us. I miss you. I miss our friendship. And I hate knowing it's partly my fault."

"Partly?" She balks, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Um, excuse me for saying so, but don't you think that statement would be a little more accurate if you admitted to all of it being your fault?"

I look at her, look her straight in the eye when I say, "Fine, I'll concede to most of it, but certainly not all of it. But, Haven, the point is-while I don't like Roman-and believe me I have my reasons-I get that he's your boyfriend, and I get that no matter what I say about him I can't change your mind, so I'm not gonna try. And I know you find that hard to believe, especially after what you saw the other night-but the thing is-well-like I said before, that wasn't really me."