Page 44 of Delirium
“Okay,” I said carefully, aware that this episode of hers could stop if I said something wrong. She was babbling everything I needed to know.
I knew Storm chose the Club, but I had one more question that needed to be answered.
“Did she tell him to choose you instead?”
“Yes!” she moaned. “But he doesn’t want me. While you’re breathing, he will never take me fully. He won’t touch me again. I need him to touch me, to show me how much he loves me. I need him, I need him…”
“I see,” I mumbled.
Was that why he was walking around the Clubhouse with her? Was that why he didn’t kill her, why he paraded her in front of me? Because Belladonna told him? Because some faceless monster kept him in her claws?
The fury in my veins came back to life, whispering to take her life, to end her right here and right now, but not yet. Not until I got all the information I needed.
“Do you know who Belladonna is?” I asked, keeping my wrath at bay, my hand trembling around the knife.
“I do, I do, I do,” she practically sang, closing her eyes. “She’s the best. The most powerful. All thanks to me. All thanks to Logan.”
Logan? “What does Logan have to do with it all?”
“He created her. He made her. He helped her see her full potential.”
“Do I know her?” I asked. “Do I know Belladonna?”
Nova’s eyes flew open, the glassy veil lifted, and she was back to pretending she was a damsel in distress.
“Storm!” she bellowed, calling the name of my man. My fucking man.
“He can’t help you, Nova.”
“Storm! Please. She’s trying to kill me!”
She thrashed underneath me, trying to get away. With each movement, the tip of the blade kept cutting against her skin, the droplets of blood rolling down her neck.
“He can’t help you, traitor.” I chuckled, moving the knife to her ear. “No one can help you.”
“Why are you doing this?” she whimpered, lying through her fucking teeth. “It’s not my fault he loves me more than he loves you.” She grinned momentarily, almost as quickly replacing it with a fearful expression.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t stop the need to destroy her.
The heel of my left hand pressed against her forehead, keeping her head down to the bed. My knife cut through her ear, the crunching sound mixing with her screams, with the stench of her blood filling my nostrils.
“You’re insane!” she wailed, trying to push me off her, but I was stronger. I was better at this than she ever would be.
Nikolai might have trained her, he might have told her to destroy me, but she would never be me. She could never be me.
I sliced the knife upward, cutting through her ear, letting it hang on a thread. Blood pooled around her, the destroyed blood vessels crying out a river of blood.
“This is what you get for crossing me, Nova.” I smiled. “And this,” I said, pressing the tip of the blade to her throat. “This is what you get for trying to take what’s mine.”
“He will never forgive you!” she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You’re killing someone he loves.”
“Oh, Nova.” I chuckled. “He knows who you are. They all do. They know your real name. They know who you’re working with, and he’s been only using you to get closer to Belladonna.”
Pure devastation shone in those eyes.
“No,” she whispered. “You’re lying. He loves me. He wants me as his queen.”
“Storm will never want you, darling, and you know why?” I leaned down, my lips pressed against her temple. “Because he already has me, and I will always be better than any of you. I am the one who survived Nikolai’s insanity. I am the one he shaped, molded into the perfect assassin. I am the only one who’s strong enough to conquer nations, to bring the strongest of men to their knees. Not you.” I pulled back, pitying this poor girl. “It will never be you.”
