The Devil's obsession with the Heiress

[Music recommendation: Sophie Hutchings - Dreaming The Stars]

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"Would you have listened to me?" Gavriel asked softly, searching her eyes. "No... were you even capable of listening then, when I reached out to you, Ana? Do you truly believe I derived joy from watching you tear yourself apart? From watching you flee from me as if I were nothing more than a beast out for your blood?"

Aliana found herself striking a sudden wall of silence, her throat tightening so completely that no reply could surface.

Gavriel shook his head slowly. "No," he murmured, answering his own question before sliding his hands from her cheeks. The sudden loss of his touch left her skin feeling strangely cold as he shifted backwards on the mattress.

"You feared me." His voice dropped, stripped of all emotion, leaving only a raw, exposed hurt in his eyes that shook her to her core. "You were so consumed by the sheer shock of what you saw that it drove you to be reckless. I saw it, Ana. The pure terror in your gaze. I could feel your very bones quivering at the mere sight of me. When reaching out to you failed to work, I simply told you what you were already expecting to hear."

Aliana parted her lips to offer a defence, but no words came out.

He turned his gaze toward the window, his expression growing distant, as if he were seeing something far beyond her realm of imagination. "You are not wrong to fear me," he confessed, his voice falling into a low whisper.

"I have far too many sins staining my hands. The blood of countless souls clings to my palms... far more than your gentle mind could ever comprehend."

She watched his hands slowly curl into fists in his lap, and a painful ache bloomed in her chest at the sight.

For the first time since the big reveal, she saw something beyond the Devil before her. She saw the man she had always sensed beneath the darkness... someone who had always been lonely. A man who had lived his entire existence devoid of even a single drop of warmth or affection and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks at the realization.

He turned back, his crimson gaze was cold yet solemn as it pinned her in place.

"So you have every right to fear what I am, because I am the very monster you imagine. But that does not change the fact that I am still your husband, and that I would never, ever hurt you. You are my only wife, and that will never change. So cast aside any foolish thought of reducing yourself to mere entertainment."

Her heart struck a hard, erratic rhythm against her ribs at his words.

A soft gasp escaped her when his fingers curled around her hand, and he lifted it up to place it over his heart. The moment her palm touched his bare skin through the open buttons of his shirt, she felt the rapid beat of his heart beneath it, matching the frantic rhythm of her own.

"Hate me if you must," Gavriel whispered, the quiet gravity of his words settling over her skin like velvet. "View me as a horrible monster. Scream at me. Do whatever you wish to me, and I will take it all. Only you can. But baby... you cannot run away from me. That is the one line I will never allow you to cross."

Aliana held his gaze before letting her eyes drift down to where their hands overlapped over his beating heart. In that quiet second, she realised just how deeply all of this had affected him, as much as it had shattered her.

All this time, she had trapped herself in a bubble of her own making, feeding on every fearful, confused thought her panicked mind produced.

But his words, the rapid thud of his heart beneath her palm, and the sheer vulnerability in his eyes reminded her of a truth she had completely overlooked in the haze...

Regardless of who he truly was, he was still her husband, the man she had vowed to stay with for better or worse, just as he had.

She finally remembered that she, too, had blood on her hands.

She had killed someone.

Whether it was one life compared to the countless lives he had taken didn’t matter, because Gavriel had accepted her even then. He had never made her feel guilty or responsible, even when she blamed herself and fell into despair.

And yet... she had made this man feel rejected.

It broke her heart to imagine what he must have felt while she fled from him like a wild woman, hurling accusations in the heat of her panic.

Even after all of that, he had still brought her back, reminding her of her place as his wife and granting her the absolute power to do whatever she wished to him, asking for nothing in return except that she stay by his side.

’I am awful, aren’t I?’ she thought, a quiet pang of self-deprecation piercing her chest.

Her fingers softly caressed the bare skin of his chest, making his heart skip a strong beat beneath her touch. Lifting her wet lashes, her light grey eyes met his. Though his facial expression remained emotionless, she could finally see the faint, anxious tremor in his gaze.

Sliding her hand up to his neck, she felt the subtle movement of his throat as he swallowed hard. Her fingertips travelled higher until they gently caressed his cheek, and Gavriel’s eyes closed slowly. As if he was allowing himself to bask in the warmth of her touch, drinking it in like a dying man in a desert.

"How foolish are we?" she whispered.

At the sound of her voice, Gavriel’s eyes opened again. She watched as their fierce crimson hue gradually melted away, bleeding back into the cool, icy blue she loved so deeply.

Gavriel remained completely still, as though he were afraid that even the slightest movement might shatter the fragile moment now that she was touching him again. Perhaps he had truly believed that she might never willingly reach for him again after seeing what he truly was.

And Aliana saw that.

Slowly, she leaned forward and rested her forehead against his chest, silently letting him know that she was still here.

And that she was finally ready to listen.

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