The Forsaken (Book Three in The Illusion of Certainty Series)

Kissing The Villian

Oh he wasn’t real.

He couldn’t be real. But he felt so real.

How did he get on campus?

That thought flew out of my head as the electricity and heat turned up between us. My uninjured hand wrapped around his neck and pressed him closer to me. His arms tightened around me even as he ended the kiss and looked down at me.

“Oh Ana. How I’ve missed you.”

I swallowed and closed my eyes. I was not going to cry. There was nothing to cry about. He was the villain and what the hell was I doing kissing the villain?!

“What…” I paused and controlled the emotion in my voice, “what are you doing here?”

He smiled. “Always asking the wrong questions.”

I ran my hand down and pushed him away at arms length. “What are you doing here?” I said through clenched teeth.

“I’m coming back to school. Didn’t they tell you?”

I frowned and thought. All the weirdness yesterday…the art teacher being called away.

“They didn’t, did they?” Aidan said, his face growing angry. “I can’t believe they didn’t tell you. They said they were. The Counsel told them to.”

“You should go,” I said. “You shouldn’t be here. Go back to New York.”

He looked taken back. “What?”

“You—just go.”

“Ana…I came back for you. Like I told you, like I promised.”

“It’s a little late, don’t you think? You spend…months in New York. Months. And while you were—living it up there, I was here. Alone. So don’t tell me you came back—for me. You came back for you.”

“Ana…I wasn’t living it up in New York. I was hurting just as much as you.”

“Really? Did you hurt when Jason tortured me? While you sat there and watched?”

“Ana—I didn’t…”

“I know it was you. Don’t pretend it wasn’t. How—could you?”

I shoved him again and again and again until I was pounding on his chest. He took it, his eyes holding the same pain I saw in my own.

“I loved you. And you watched as that—as he hurt me again and again and again. And you didn’t do anything.”

“That’s not true. I did do something. He was going to do worse, Ana. He wasn’t even going to let you go. He was planning on killing you before Michael even got close.”

“Death would have been better than what he did. I have to live with it every day. I see it in my nightmares. It hasn’t stopped for me, Aidan. It’s still happening. Every time I close my eyes I feel it, I hear it. So don’t tell me you did something. You did—nothing.”

He stood there, staring at me, pain and despair radiating through his eyes.

“I see it too,” he said quietly. “He told me if I didn’t stand there and watch, he would kill you. Right there, in front of my eyes. I couldn’t watch you die, Ana.”

“But you could watch as he tortured me?”

“No. I couldn’t. Not after…I wasn’t there when he started. I got called in. When I got there and saw what they were doing…I tried to set you free. But Jason caught me. He hurt me too, punished me for trying to help you. Then he forced me to clean you up after he was done. He forced me to fix you so he could do it again. If I tried to do more, and I did, he’d do worse to you. When he noticed I fixed your fingers he broke your hand. That last torture session was more for me than you.