When There Is Nothing Left But Love

She was obsessed with Buddhism. The moment she was saved, she erected a Buddha statue in her room and started worshipping it. Tessa sat cross legged before the statue and put her hands together as she muttered the mantras under her breath.

“What do you want to talk about?” she said.

I looked at her and answered, “Do you really believe he’ll bless you?”

She looked at me from the corner of her eye and replied sternly, “I wouldn’t be talking to you now if he doesn’t.”

Well, that was one woman far gone in religion. I paused for a moment. “They said you live in A City. Laurel’s going to open up a shop there once we get back. Want to join us?”

“No,” she refused firmly.

I nodded. “I didn’t mean it, you know. I didn’t want to hurt you guys. I really didn’t. I never expected Dante to hurt you like that. I—”

“Enough!” she interrupted me and threw me a dirty look. “Do you really think you’re that noble, Stovall? You keep looking down at us from a pedestal. Has anyone ever told you you’re one heck of a hypocrite?”

at

yourself out to be some saint. You come from a privileged background, men fawn over

having no

hate me more than they do, don’t you? That’s why you kept quiet when Dante chose me. Because you’d feel less guilty if I was the

some part of her answer was fueled by her own

just went with the flow and didn’t do everything I could. even though I knew Ashton might be

say to

got up and left without saying anything. Not many people

…

through the glass and covered the bed with golden

early in the morning to prepare for the return. We managed to get to Western Europe from Venria without any passport or ID since the security was lax thanks to Armond, but it wouldn’t be so easy the other way around. Fortunately, Nora

was Ashton’s. That proved to be a

sent his men to take our flight tickets. At the same time, he

the girls were exhilarated. Nora held my hands.