Chapter 135 Be With Me - Adele's POV

Chapter 135 Be With Me - Adele's POV
I took another step backward. My heart was pounding, but I refused to let him see how much his words had affected me.

"You're disgusting."

His lips twitched. "That's not what your eyes say."

"My eyes are telling you to stay away from me,” I snapped just as my back hit the wall.

"Your eyes are telling me you're afraid,” he said softly, as if he didn’t care that I didn’t want him. “Your fear is…delicious.”

“No,” I murmured, almost shutting my eyes. 

I didn’t want this. I just wanted to be back at the Isle. If I wasn’t in danger, I would have laughed at that thought. How ridiculous. No one wanted to be exiled, but I would take that over this any day.

He nodded slowly. "Yes."

I let out a sharp laugh. "You're delusional if you think I’ll ever touch you willingly.”

“Perhaps,” he mused as he took another step.

I was as far as I could go. His gaze dropped to my stomach, slowly trailing their way back to my face.

"See?"

"See what?" I asked.

"You're afraid of me."

"I'm afraid of being trapped in a palace full of vampires who want to kill me,” I snarled, the sound almost inhuman. “I’m afraid of never seeing—”

“Him,” he interrupted. “I can arrange for you two to see each other one last time if he ever steps foot on the mainland. But that is all I can do.”

“No,” I said, turning away. “I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

“If he stays in exile, then it won’t, but knowing my brother, he’ll come for you like the idiot he is.”

I slowly turned, looking up at him. “He’s my mate.”

"Former mate."

The words came out so calmly that my chest tightened. "Stop calling him that."

"Why?"

"Because he isn't my former,” I said again, a sob nearly choking me.

Corwin's expression hardened. "He is."

"No." My fingers curled into fists. "That doesn't mean I stopped loving him."

The words slipped out before I could stop them. Silence filled the room. Corwin stared at me. I wished I could take them back. They were true, but I didn't want anyone to know how much of me was still tied to Craven when the bond was gone.

How every breath felt wrong without him. How I still woke expecting to find him beside me. How I still wanted him to come for me.

Corwin's face changed as something dangerous flickered in his eyes. “Love. Ha! Such a silly concept.”

I swallowed. “It’s not silly.”

“He’s just obsessed with you. It’s no different than from when he had blood lust,” he argued. “Love is nothing. Power is everything.”

I shook my head. "You really are determined to make me hate him, but it won’t work on me.”

"No. I'm determined to make you see him for what he truly is and realize that he’s a monster, an uncivilized brute."

"I have seen him."

"Have you?" His voice was suddenly quieter. "Have you seen what happens when Craven wants something?"

"Yes."

The answer came without hesitation. His brows lifted slightly.

"I have seen what he does when he wants something,” I murmured.

"Then you know what he is,” he growled low in his throat. “You can see that he will take what he wants and covet it away, even if it doesn’t truly belong to him.” His expression shifted, almost too subtly for me to notice. “Monster. He gives us all a bad name.”

“No, that would be you, “I said, glancing up at him.

Corwin was now in front of me, so close that I could smell a sweet fragrance radiating from him. It did nothing for me, though.

"Wanting something doesn't make someone a monster."

"Then what does?" He asked.

I held his gaze. "Choosing to hurt people to get it or taking what isn’t yours.”

For a moment, Corwin didn't say anything. I could see the argument forming in his mind before he finally shook his head.

"You're making excuses for him. You think you know him because he was kind to you," he said, sighing. "Because he touched you gently. Because he looked at you like you were the center of his world."

My chest tightened. “But—”

“I can do the same thing. Does that mean you won’t see me as a monster when I do those things?”

I stared at him, unable to find the words to answer, because that wasn't the same. It couldn't be.

Craven had never made me feel the way Corwin did. Even when I was angry with him, even when I was afraid, there had always been something beneath it all that made me feel safe with him.

Corwin made my skin crawl. My instincts screamed at me to get away from him, yet there was nowhere for me to go.

"You don't understand," I finally whispered.

His brow lifted. "Then explain it to me."

"I don't have to."

"No?"

I shook my head. "No. Because you're trying to make me believe that what I felt with Craven was nothing more than some obsession you claim he has."

"Isn't it?"

"No." The word came out stronger this time.

I pushed away from the wall, but Corwin didn't move. I was forced to stop only inches from him, the space between us nearly nonexistent.

I hated being this close to him. I hated that I could smell him. I hated that he was watching me as though he could see every thought running through my mind.

"Craven didn't make me love him," I breathed. "He didn't have to."

Something flashed in Corwin's eyes. "Then why did you?"

The question caught me off guard. I opened my mouth, but no answer came.

Why had I fallen in love with Craven?

It wasn't one thing. It was a thousand small moments that had slowly become something I couldn't imagine living without.

It was the way he had looked at me when I first arrived on the Isle. The way he had tried to pretend I was nothing more than an inconvenience when I could see the truth in his eyes.

Even when he nearly drained me dry, I still found that he cared for me. He wanted me.

"Because he saw me," I finally said. “And he always gave me a choice. I didn’t have to choose him, but I did.”

Corwin's expression didn't change. "How romantic."

I ignored the sarcasm.

"He didn't just see a queen. He didn't see someone he could use to strengthen his position or someone who could give him power. That’s all you were to him. I guarantee he knew exactly what you were the moment he met you.”

My voice grew quieter. "He saw me for me.”

Corwin's jaw tightened. "And what exactly did he see?"

"The good and the bad. The parts of me I wanted everyone to see and the parts I wanted to hide. He saw me when I was afraid. He saw me when I was angry. He saw me when I didn't know what I was doing." I swallowed against the ache in my throat. "And he always gave me a choice as I said.”

Something in Corwin's expression shifted. I knew he didn't want to hear any of this.

“I could have chosen any of the others and he would have accepted it, because it was my choice.”

Corwin laughed at that. “Your only choices now are to do as I ask or die. If you leave here, the mainland will kill you. They don’t want another queen.”

“A life with you would be no life at all.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m stronger than my brother, older and more powerful. With me, you’d be safer and accepted. You’d be the vampire queen, along with your other queen title.”

I shook my head. “I would be used for what I am.”

“Not quite,” he said, huffing. “There could be moments of tenderness. Maybe you’d grow to love me as you have loved my brother. It wouldn’t be all bad or for power. Think of it more as a strategic move to keep you alive.”

“Like you kept the previous queen alive?”

His gaze hardened. “That was different.”