Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters #4)(68)

She turns quickly, shutting off the water, and I hop off the counter to grab a towel.

“That’s good news. If she lifts his curse—”

“He can be a philandering womanizer once again, and you’re the type to shed tears instead of getting angry, sweet little monster,” I state very cautiously. “It’s important to keep him engaged and watched—”

“Damien does the watching, Arion. Not me. Well, apparently you enjoy watching too,” she tells me in a dry tone as she steps out and into the towel I’m holding for her.

She doesn’t have a problem with my looking, so I take my time closing the towel around her. It’s the touching that makes her pump those metaphorical brakes, as Shera said.

“If she lifts the curse, it’s something I’ll celebrate for him,” she goes on, eyes not meeting mine as she steps around me, clutching her towel and securing it in place, as she moves to the sink.

Her eyes meet mine in the mirror when I curiously ask, “And if he strays? What would you have me do?”

Her brow furrows, and she starts and stops herself from speaking, as though she’s allowing a moment of hesitance to search for the right words.

Finally, she says, “I’d have you do nothing. If he wants to be with someone else, so be it. It’ll hurt, I might cry, and then I’ll carry on. Snowball downhill, remember? I survived my mother’s death when I believed it to be real—I can survive a breakup.”

I’m not really sure what to say to that. It seems like such an under-reaction to the very possible hypothetical.

And the damn girl is too hopeful that Marta Portocale is truly her mother. It’s slightly unsettling how much she apparently cares for a woman I despise with a deeply rooted, unadulterated hatred.

“I’m the most loyal, which is my point,” I resume, needing to ensure she’s understanding. “I’ll be the one to hold the pieces together when they start falling apart. It’s just one piece of knowledge you’ll benefit from with me at your side, Violet. Just one. I’ll be there to keep them with you, so long as you promise not to tear us all apart…the way she did, by the end.”

Her gaze meets mine again as she finger-combs through her wet hair.

“No.”

The simple answer from her lips makes zero sense to me.

“What?”

“No,” she says again, rolling her eyes, as she grabs my shirt from the counter.

She quickly starts stuffing her arms through the sleeves too long for her. “Can you give me a few minutes to finish up in here?” she asks sweetly.

I don’t particularly like this sense of confusion.

“No? No what, Violet?”

She makes a small sound that really doesn’t bode well for me.

“I could explain, but then you’ll argue, Arion. The point is, the answer is no. I don’t want you keeping the boys in line for me, and I will never ask you to do something to them, or manipulate them, or any other version of control Idun once had you implement.” She turns and levels me with a look that is still a little sad. “I’m not Idun.”

“I know you’re not, but—”

“I’m not adventurous, because when I say I attract danger, I mean it very literally, and more so than ever before, at current. There’s too much adventure and not enough time in between to adjust. Now I realize it’s the curse of an omega, and it’s okay with me because at least I can take it. It takes the focus off other omegas who can die.”

I start to argue, but she continues speaking, as she bends over abruptly and starts tying her hair up in a towel.

“The more I learn about Idun, the more I realize how starkly different we are,” she continues. “But the biggest difference is the fact that if I’m not happy, I’ll just walk away, Arion. I don’t fight for men who don’t truly want me. It’s just that simple.”

“No, you fight against them when they do want you, because you prefer to be the chased instead of the chaser,” I counter, just now realizing how very limited my information on women is.

“I’m not sure why you want to argue with me,” she goes on quietly. “I don’t know why you’re chasing me at all. You had me, and instead of being honest, you used the trust I gave you very freely against me, Arion. How many times do I have to say that before you really hear it?”

She’s being completely unreasonable.

“Then why are you here with me?” I ask very seriously.

“Because apparently the three of you voted this is where I’ll be tonight, and so I’m here, answering your questions instead of getting any real answers of my own,” she says as she pointedly avoids looking at me, even in the mirror.

Come to think of it, I saw the agreement in her eyes, I think, but she never did actually agree to come with me. Huh. How the hell did that happen?

No sense in fretting now. I finally have her alone, and I’ll manage to turn this around somehow.

“If I’d told you I was Arion, the vampire alpha who strikes fear into every single immortal or semi-immortal soul in this world, would you have still been the same Violet you were?” I ask her, debunking her little argument.

“I would have listened, Arion, because I’m a monster too. I know you didn’t know that, but I doubt it would have influenced your ultimate decision. I’m sure it gets trickier and trickier to be a monster, because I’ve already been buried alive after having my throat slit, been tied up in some Martin guy’s house by vampires…also after having my throat slit…and attacked by the same pureblood wolves twice. I haven’t even lived in Shadow Hills a year yet, and I’ve already had to kill just to stay upright.”