"Mate?" Isadora questioned, trying to hide the shaky undertone that clung to her voice. She hated the way it affected her. "How dare you call that after what you said to my face?"
Kraven smiled, tilting his head, eyes detailing every inch of her face in amusent, like the first ti. Even angry at him, she had never looked more beautiful with those fires burning in her pale amber.
However, he wanted that glow in her eyes whenever she looked at him as if he hung the moon.
"Smiling?" Isadora scoffed. He had always been impossible, but this? He was asking for a hit, which she was very tempted to do right now. "Why don’t you just go away? Since you’re so determined to withhold your convictions."
Gods! Was she making this worse? The Witch specifically told her to show him love and make him understand the mate bond wasn’t as he thought. But that smile, dear gods! That smile plastered on his lips made her angrier.
"Leave," she growled, not wanting to spend another minute with him. "And stay away from ." The words felt like sand mouth, it sounded like an aimless threat that led to nothing.
"You know I wouldn’t last if I tried," Kraven said, amused. "I was hoping you would hate more and forget the bond after I said those words to your face."
"Congratulations, Reaper, it worked. You live up to your reputation of destroying everything you touch, but this ti, heads didn’t roll. Maybe you’re losing your touch."
"Darling," He purred. "As much as I want to believe your words, I can’t. Not when your eyes say a different thing." He took a step closer.
Isadora took one back and gave a warning look that could cut through glass. "You’re wrong, just stay away!"
"We seem to be doing all the wrong things recently. I always told you to an your words, darling."
Isadora raised her hand to slap him across his face, but he caught her wrist before she could land a solid hit.
Her chest heaved as she glared daggers at him, but that was just a front she put up.
Deep down, she was lting, but she was determined not to let that move her. He needed to learn how much he hurt her.
"My feelings is not fickle. It’s not sothing you can just crush and have the audacity to co back to."
His eyes softened, and her heart skipped a beat at the action. He yanked her close until her body pressed against his, and she tried her hardest to ignore how her body reacted.
"I know, darling, and I’m—"
"Sorry? You have never apologized to anyone before."
He grinned widely until his dimples carved into his cheeks. "I will, to you."
Isadora stared at him like he had mysteriously grown two heads. He wouldn’t dare, right? Kraven can’t—.
"I’m sorry, darling. I never thought your feelings were fickle; they are like steel, and so are mine."
Isadora gasped and yanked her hand away from him, stepping as far as possible. "I’m dreaming, aren’t I?"
Kraven chuckled deeply, a twinkle in his silver eyes. "You can’t dream, rember?"
Isadora swallowed thickly, the words finding her throat in a whisper. "How could you ever think that you’re incapable of love?"
"I always have been," Kraven replied. "And it’s nobody’s fault. It’s just what fate had in store for , or maybe it was the price of accepting the madness." His eyes blinked as if he was coming to that fruition himself. "It’s funny how I finally understand, it takes a mont to do so. There is so much madness that sotis it feels like I exist because of it."
Isadora’s eyes saddened at his words. He had lived in that darkness for so long that he beca a part of it, the very embodint of it. He never thought or hoped for more.
But that was all over because she was here now. To be what he hoped for. For a man who doesn’t aim for the light, she shall be his without question.
"You might have not been born into love and neither was I," Isadora began, it was a reminder of how alike they were but the only painful truth was, one of them wasn’t conditioned to love and he had an entity within him that stole away anything that could have made him humane.
Isadora, on the other hand, wasn’t born into love; however, in a world of black and white, she hoped for it, and she could feel it even though the world never gave her one. Until she t Kraven.
He never gave her love, the seven gods knew he gave her pain and hate. But in the midst of it all, he gave what it ans to survive.
In the place of learning to overco the dangerous Fae, she saw his heart, dead but still beating. And she saw sothing she never thought he was capable of.
Loneliness.
He had warriors at his command. Had Commanders who were loyal and would die for him. Had a glorious purpose for revenge. It was a full-blown goal and life for a fearso warrior, and he had it all.
Yet she saw what no one else could. He was the loneliest man she had ever t.
On the outside, he was a twisted killer, a cunning, wicked dark Fae. But on the inside? He was isolated and broken, with so many skeletons she couldn’t count.
And when he showed her one of the skeletons she realized then that the world didn’t deserve him. He was the embodint of a monster who never turned into his own worst nightmare.
"I’ll give you all the love, for both of us for as long as I may live," she declared, giving him a soft smile.
Her love will be the light he yearned for.
Kraven remained still, speechless, taking it all in like it was the first ti. What had he done to deserve such a woman in his life? Who could ever love a madman? The answer was her, Isadora Skaldwood, his obsession.
He had shown her his ugly, dangerous side and yet she never ran. She was his little bunny who loved to hop away given the chance but that was the funny thing, she had never desired to leave. She ran knowing he would always catch her.
From the mont he saw her in his dreams, the first ti in that brothel, such pureness before his eyes and he wanted to taint and ruin because that was what he does best but at the end he was the one ruined with her light.
Only her light was capable of reaching him.
"Careful, darling," he said, amused. "Those words are more aningful than anything else you have said at the last minute. This madman will be utterly obsessed to the point of insanity."
"I know," she replied. "Mad or sane, I’ll always love you."
"Even if you know my true identity?" Kraven narrowed his eyes. "If you know of my past and how much I failed in that life, would you still love , knowing that I might fail you too?"
Isadora smiled, and this caught him off guard.
"I know everything about you, Kraven Val Thrond."
"What did the Witch tell you?"
"The Witch didn’t tell anything. It was Aric."
Kraven’s teeth clenched hard.
"It doesn’t matter who told ; the only thing that does is that I know." She stepped closer and took his hand; they felt so big, yet it was so comforting and warm. "If you wish to burn the world, then I’ll release."
Kraven chuckled. "My little bunny is corrupted. May the gods have rcy on for this creature I’ve created."
"The Five Courts," Isadora said as rage built within. "They deserve what’s coming for them."
"Hmm..." Kraven murmured. "That is my fight, darling."
"Our fight," Isadora corrected. "You have to get used to the fact you have a mate now, and so do I." She blushed.
"Then let’s make it official," he declared. "The mating ritual."
"What made you change your mind? Is that why you ca to in the dead of night?" she asked.
"Logi was convincing even though he ended up with a few broken bones. He’ll be fine."
Isadora gasped; her attempt to swoon him wouldn’t have worked. It was a good thing she stuck to her anger.
"Why did you hurt him? He only ans well."
"He has a tongue I so badly want to cut off. He knows what irks , and he uses it right. That is what makes angry."
Isadora giggled. "Funny, he’s been a good teacher so far. If it wasn’t for his help, I wouldn’t have seen what I needed." She tipped her head to the side as her lips stretched wider.
Kraven’s eyes darkened, he brought her hand to his lips, and brushed a kiss that sent a shiver down Isadora’s spine.
His silver gave a glow as he said words that stopped her heart montarily. "I accept you, Isadora Skaldwood, as my mate."
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